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Fifth Column
Rickman slams 'censorship' of play about St. Pancake
2006-02-28
A New York theatre company has put off plans to stage a play about an American activist accidently killed by an act of stupidity in front of an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza because of the current "political climate" - a decision the play's British director, Alan Rickman, denounced yesterday as "censorship".
Yup, always being oppressed by The Man.
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.
"People were beginning to figure out that the Palestinians aren't such nice people!"
"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."
"And our donors were really mad at us!"
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. "I can only guess at the pressures of funding an independent theatre company in New York, but calling this production "postponed" does not disguise the fact that it has been cancelled," Mr Rickman said in a statement. "This is censorship born out of fear, and the New York Theatre Workshop, the Royal Court, New York audiences - all of us are the losers."
Except for the small audience, which is a winner -- what to do with three free hours of time?
Posted by:Steve White

#21  Dang - and today's National Pancake Day.
Posted by: Pappy   2006-02-28 23:46  

#20  I created a play and I'm looking for sponsors where I stand on stage for an hour and say every single solitary swear word I know. Since I don't know an hours worth, I'll have to multiple make combinations of the ones I do.

No one is sponsoring me. It's censorship I tell you!! Censorship. I demand money now!!
Posted by: 2b   2006-02-28 23:35  

#19  I'm having trouble resisting the temptation to make a matzah joke. However, knowing that a lot of people in the Middle East still believe in the blood libel keeps me from saying anything.
Posted by: Eric Jablow   2006-02-28 21:28  

#18  By grapthars hammer its sad to see Alan Rickman doesn't understand censorship comes from the government forbidding something, not from a New York Theatre company.

Take the play somewhere else and finance it yourself instead of bitching.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2006-02-28 20:01  

#17  Bad Don.... Bad. Funny as hell tho.
Posted by: 6   2006-02-28 17:50  

#16  How does the play end anyway? With a cardboard cutout of the actress??
Posted by: DonM   2006-02-28 17:08  

#15  
Posted by: .com   2006-02-28 15:48  

#14  I was on a construction site last Spring and one of the bulldozers was named "Rachel". I asked th operator if he was making a political statement and he said, "Whadda ya mean? My wife's name is Rachel". LMAO. I'm sorry Rachel is dead but when you're stupid, you pay the consequences.
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2006-02-28 14:42  

#13  Why do I get the feeling that this is Rickman's version of "Springtime for Hitler."
Posted by: DepotGuy   2006-02-28 13:03  

#12  LOL RC and BTP.
Posted by: 6   2006-02-28 11:59  

#11  There must be a theater on the campus of Columbia University he can use. I'd stay away from Brooklyn College if I were him, however.
Posted by: Eric Jablow   2006-02-28 10:20  

#10  all of us are the losers.

We keep telling you, but you never listen to us.
Posted by: BH   2006-02-28 09:59  

#9  a decision the play's British director, Alan Rickman

Director, because he can't get lead roles anymore?
Posted by: Raj   2006-02-28 09:37  

#8  "..all of us are the losers." Yep, Alan Rickman, St. Pancake = Losers. Maybe if they had renamed it Cats II...
Posted by: Inspector Clueso   2006-02-28 09:01  

#7  Ah. Memories...

Nothing like waking up a week before finals and seeing a D9 parked outsite your dorm window -- in Peoria, even.

Thankfully, the D9 was just for show during the ground-breaking. When I woke up in the middle of finals to discover the dorm being rammed, it was by a lowly Bobcat. Apparently it was INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT for them to remove the window well from the laundry room.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-02-28 07:58  

#6  We had the stage reinforced, the D9 Cat was ready for shipment and everything...&#&#&@!.
Posted by: BacktoPeoria   2006-02-28 07:54  

#5  If they stage the play, the local IHOP will do landmark business.

"Yeah, give me two dozen to go. No syrup or butter; they fly better dry. Hurry, I got a play to catch."
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-02-28 07:53  

#4  If he really believed in that play, wouldn't he have ponied up his own cash to put it on?

(Crickets chirping)

I'm sure there would be some place it could be performed in the Noo Yawk area. Like maybe at a Presbyterian church in that supports divesting from Israel...or maybe one of the local mosques has a tool shed they're not using right now.
Posted by: Desert Blondie   2006-02-28 06:54  

#3  This would be something to cheer about if his play was anything other than a silly little piece of agit prop. But it's not so there's nothing to lose by letting them stage it for a few hundred people over a few months in a dingy off-broadway theater. It would flop bigger than Munich and no one's mind will be changed - the only people who will applaud it are the people already predisposed to believing their little Left wing fantasies about Israel and the Palestininas. The image of Corrie grows even more absurd and untenable against the backdrop of Hamas, Cartoon Jihad and an Iranian Leader clamouring for nukes to wipe Israel off the map. Even the Liberals are growing uncomfortable and only the hardest core of Lefties can still bring themselves to regurgitate the pro-Pali propaganda without coughing nervously.

Let them show the dang play and consign themselves further to the fringe of irrelevance and denial of the new reality. Don't let despicable Alan Rickman have the satisfaction and self-importance to cry censorship.
Posted by: Monsieur Moonbat   2006-02-28 01:03  

#2  Hahaha...!!!

Yeah. Stage this production in New York City. The place would be picketed EVERY DAY!!! They'd get seatings of no more than 5 people a show. And the picketers would be handing out literature describing what REALLY happened. The anti-play factions would get more publicity -- and sympathy -- than the production itself.

Jews are not intimidated, or concerned about making waves in New York City. Rickman was able to put that play on in Britain because of the predominance of paleo sympathies there and because the Jewish community is so powerless and intimidated.

st pancake doesn't deserve to be glorified. she was a useful idiot and should be pitied. as should Rickman.
Posted by: PlanetDan   2006-02-28 00:20  

#1  Yippie Ki Yay Mutherfucka! Get over it and yourself
Posted by: Frank G   2006-02-28 00:11  

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