My Name is Rachel Corrie by Alan Rickman & Rachel Viner, Greenwich Theatre Studio, Crooms Hill, London SE10 | until 19 October 2026. ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

Photo credit: Chewboy Ross Kernahan

My Name is Rachel Corrie

by Alan Rickman & Rachel Viner

Greenwich Theatre Studio, Crooms Hill, London SE10 | until 19 October 2026.

⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by William Russell

“A devastating story magnificently told.”

First performed at the Royal Court in 2005 this new production directed by James Hoddrell with Cassie Bradley playing Rachel Corrie has lost none of its relevance and is as devastating now as it was then. At 90 minutes it is a hefty piece for any player to tackle but Bradley delivers an assured performance as the young American woman with a cause who refused to stand by and watch what the Israeli Defence Force was doing in Gaza and on the West Bank. A member of the Pro Palestinian Solidarity Movement on 16 March 2003 she stood between An Israeli bulldozer and a Palestinian home it was going to demolish and, although her presence was clear to the driver. she was killed when the earth it was pushing forward engulfed her. Since then, a foundation for peace and justice has been set up in her name. At ninety minutes it is possibly a little too long – good though Bradley is as she forages through documents, letters or pages from her diary suspended from the ceiling of her bedroom to read out the relevant passages or writes on the walls to record the facts and figures of the events taking place it does become repetitive and attention lessens. In the end when we get to the confrontation with that bulldozer, however, things build up to a devastating ending, even if it is an ending we know already. Bradley, first seen painting her toenails in her cluttered bedroom, is very good indeed and worth catching.

Cast

Cassie Bradley – Rachel Corrie

Creatives

Director – James Haddrell

Set & Costume Design – Jana Lakatos

Lighting Design – Liv Baldock

Scenic Artist – Amy Marsden

Movement Consultant – Ed Woodall