Rickman slams ‘censorship’ of play about US Gaza activist
Tuesday, February 28th, 2006By Julian Borger
Published in The Guardian
A New York theatre company has put off plans to stage a play about an American activist killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza because of the current “political climate” - a decision the play’s British director, Alan Rickman, denounced yesterday as “censorship”.
James Nicola, the artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop, said it had never formally announced it would be staging the play, My Name is Rachel Corrie, but it had been considering staging it in March.
“In our pre-production planning and our talking around and listening in our communities in New York, what we heard was that after Ariel Sharon’s illness and the election of Hamas, we had a very edgy situation,” Mr Nicola said.
“We found that our plan to present a work of art would be seen as us taking a stand in a political conflict, that we didn’t want to take.”
He said he had suggested a postponement until next year.
Mr Rickman, best known for his film acting roles in Love, Actually and the Harry Potter series and who directed the play at London’s Royal Court Theatre, denounced the decision.
