My Name is Rachel Corrie Reviews

Chicago Tribune- Somewhat Recommended

"...Conflict in the Middle East has long been complex and fraught with nuances that even policy analysts have trouble parsing, and it is important to recognize that the play—a collage of Corrie's journal entries and emails home, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner into a one-woman show—does not come close to outlining the basic realities of the region. Purple Bench, a new company, deserves credit for tackling such a hot-button work, but let's be clear, this is not "The Wire" set in the Gaza Strip. Many details are left vague, or simply never surface."

Chicago Reader- Recommended

"...director Emmy Kreilkamp understands that the horrors Corrie witnessed are what matter, and she's coaxed a straightforward, engrossing performance from Jessie Fisher, who wisely avoids full characterization in favor of bearing passionate, if politically lopsided, witness."

Windy City Times- Somewhat Recommended

"...Ultimately, the failure of My Name Is Rachel Corrie, even as propaganda, does not lie in whether we agree with our heroine that one faction represents “pure evil” while another practices “Ghandian non-violent resistance” exclusively, but that we doubt the character's ability to distinguish truth from fiction. And to those seeking facts, a sermon that preaches only to its own faithful congregation cannot help but emerge as dramatically disappointing."

Time Out Chicago- Recommended

"...With no formal political education, she was a citizen’s journalist articulately answering a calling the best way she knew how: by documenting ground-level slaughter exactly as she saw it. Ironic and self-deprecating, her prose is a perfect match for resourceful Fisher, who finds the voice of a girl so smart and cool you’d want to buy her a beer if you met her at Ginger Man, and a girl so naive she could meet a fate as tragic as Corrie’s."

ChicagoCritic- Not Recommended

"...The play moves from a profile of a college co-ed to a fanatic mission of a zealot. The lack of balance and narrow focus of this play makes the work untruthfully narrow. No wonder a New York City production was indefinitely postponed. I believe this show should be able to be produced (as per the First Amendment)—BUT—I also believe its one sidedness makes it incomplete."