My Name is Rachel Corrie... at last.

Like Caryl Churchill’s Seven Jewish Children: a play for Gaza, the Rachel Corrie thunderclaps arrived long before the actual play. And, I confess, my initial response to My Name is Rachel Corrie -- sitting in the dark -- was along the lines of "this is just a play." Not in a bad way, but more along the lines of "what was all the fuss about?"

It’s utterly unexceptionable. A bit didactic at times, but hardly what you’d call tendentious. Was that the reason for the stink perhaps? That is couldn't be dissed -- or dismissed -- as propaganda?

Anyway, as theatre, this is a strong show. The production is more than equal to the honesty of the writing.

Here’s my Herald Sun review.

In March 2003, a 23 year-old American woman was killed in Rafah, at the southern end of the Gaza strip where it border with Egypt. She was protesting the demolition of homes when she was run over by an armoured bulldozer operated by the Israeli defence forces. My Name Is Rachel Corrie brings to the stage her diaries and emails.

Like the best journalists, Rachel Corrie assumed an intelligent but not necessarily informed audience. Even if she had been a tub-thumping revolutionary, there’s less chance of that showing up in an email to her mother!

Corrie’s writing captures in strikingly effective parables the injustice of Israeli’s action in Gaza: from the breaches of international law and convention (the destruction of water supplies, farms, livelihoods) to the building of a wall to divide the people of Rafah from the Mediterranean sea. “I can leave. I’m allowed to see the ocean.”

Unexpectedly, the play -- and this remarkable production -- also captures the blindingly bright passion of youthful activism: its idealism, its holiness, its martyrdom... and its refusal to capitulate to bullies.

Daniel Clarke’s production never lets us lose sight of the fact that we’re watching a vulnerable, passionate and oh-so-human girl. And Hannah Norris captures our attention (and our hearts) the moment we walk into the space with a performance that’s closer to being than mere acting. It’s like a tracer bullet or a flare arcing overhead.

My Name Is Rachel Corrie. Edited by Alan Rickman & Katharine Viner. Lighting and sound design by Ben Flett. Video by Annamarie Kohn. Directed by Daniel Clarke. At fortyfivedownstairs until November 14, 2010.