Entertainment

American peace activist Rachel Corrie's story told in one-woman play

American student Rachel Corrie whose life and experiences in Israeli-occupied Gaza inspired the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie
American student Rachel Corrie whose life and experiences in Israeli-occupied Gaza inspired the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie American student Rachel Corrie whose life and experiences in Israeli-occupied Gaza inspired the play My Name Is Rachel Corrie

THE story of the final weeks and controversial killing of a 23-year-old American peace activist by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip will be told in a play co-written by the late Alan Rickman and Guardian editor Katherine Viner in west Belfast on Friday night.

My Name is Rachel Corrie will be performed at Gort na Mona GAC on the Upper Springfield Road as part of Féile na Carraige 2016, directed by Máire Mhic Dhomhnaill and starring Rosie NcNally.

Based on the diaries and emails of the Washington-born student, the one-woman play centres on her impressions and experiences of life in Palestine; in 2003, less than two months after her arrival, she was fatally run over by an Israeli bulldozer demolishing Palestinian houses in Rafa. She had been involved in a non-violent protest aimed at protecting the home of a Palestinian family from demolition.

Fellow members of the pro-Palestinian group International Solidarity Movement (ISM) who were present maintain the killing was deliberate; an Israeli Defence Forces investigation, which was criticised by human rights groups including Amnesty International, exonerated the driver.

Originally performed in London's Royal Court Theatre in 2005, My Name is Rachel Corrie received a five-minute standing ovation at the Belfast Féile in August when it was first performed in Northern Ireland.

:: Doors open at 8pm. Tickets for the play, followed by music, cost £5; proceeds go to the Rachel Corrie Foundation, established by Rachel's parents in her memory.