NYT Letter: In Defense of a Play
Published in The New York Times
To the Editor:
Re “Theater Addresses Tension Over Play” (Arts pages, March 16):
We are Jewish writers who supported the Royal Court production of “My Name Is Rachel Corrie.” We are dismayed by the decision of the New York Theater Workshop to cancel or postpone the play’s production. We believe that this is an important play, particularly, perhaps, for an American audience that too rarely has an opportunity to see and judge for itself the material it contends with.
In London it played to sell-out houses. Critics praised it. Audiences found it intensely moving. So what is it about Rachel Corrie’s writings, her thoughts, her feelings, her confusions, her idealism, her courage, her search for meaning in life — what is it that New York audiences must be protected from?
The various reasons given by the workshop — Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s coma, the election of Hamas, the circumstances of Rachel Corrie’s death, the “symbolism” of her tale — make no sense in the context of this play and the crucial issues it raises about Israeli military activity in the occupied territories.
Rachel Corrie gave her life standing up against injustice. A theater with such a fine history should have had the courage to give New York theatergoers the chance to experience her story for themselves.
Gillian Slovo
Harold Pinter
Stephen Fry
Lisa Appignanesi
Ivor Dembina Morris Farhi
Linda Grant
Michelle Hanson
Eva Hoffman
Ann Jungman
Michael Kustow
Simon Louvish
Sonja Lyndon Susie Orbach
Jacqueline Rose
Michael Rosen
Leon Rosselson
Donald Sassoon
Alexei Sayle
Lynne Segal
Michelene Wandor
London, March 20, 2006
