Farrah Yassin plays Rachel Corrie in a one-woman play at Courtyard Playhouse. Courtesy Danu Dubai
Farrah Yassin plays Rachel Corrie in a one-woman play at Courtyard Playhouse. Courtesy Danu Dubai
Farrah Yassin plays Rachel Corrie in a one-woman play at Courtyard Playhouse. Courtesy Danu Dubai
Farrah Yassin plays Rachel Corrie in a one-woman play at Courtyard Playhouse. Courtesy Danu Dubai

Meet the Palestinian actress who's reviving Rachel Corrie's message of peace on the Dubai stage


Katy Gillett
  • English
  • Arabic

Farrah Yassin, an actress and entrepreneur, remembers clearly the day she heard that 23-year-old American peace activist Rachel Corrie had been killed in Gaza, run over by a bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian family's home.

It was March 16, 2003, and Yassin, who is Canadian-­Palestinian, was just 13 years old. “Any politics related to Palestine is of interest to me, but the most unique thing about Rachel Corrie’s story is that she was an American who was a martyr for Palestine.”

That's why, 16 years later, Yassin is portraying her in a one-woman play called My Name is Rachel Corrie, which will be performed at The Courtyard Playhouse in Al Quoz, Dubai, this weekend. It's the first solo-actor performance in the Gulf, and the original script, which is made up of Corrie's own diary entries and emails, was edited by English actor Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner, The Guardian's editor-in-chief.

“She reminds me so much of myself,” says Yassin, who grew up in Bahrain and has been living in Dubai for the past six years. “We’re scatter brains, both very loud, we’re both idealists […] She was a massive dork – I’m a dork, too,” she adds with a laugh.

“In her journals, she says ‘I operate from a core assumption that we are all essentially the same and we’re all really good people inside. That our differences are by and large situational.’ But, she says, ‘I know that this assumption may be false.’ And it was proven to be false, because she didn’t expect that he [the Israeli soldier driving the bulldozer] was actually going to run her over.

“That’s the tragedy of her story. She died for humanity, not just for the Palestinian people. She died for all the idealists.”

Yassin, therefore, didn’t find it difficult to embody Corrie. “I didn’t think for one second Padraig [Downey, the director and producer from Danu Dubai] would pick me. But, because I’ve been involved in the theatre scene for some time, and because of my heritage, I thought, why not? Let me audition.

“Ultimately, I felt I had to take it on. Nothing would have annoyed me more than if someone hadn’t done it justice.”

She was chosen from among dozens of other hopefuls to star as Corrie. She then got to work memorising her (many, many) lines, and performed the play in Dubai from February 28 to March 2. Each night, she received a standing ovation. So, due to popular demand, the play is being brought back to the emirate’s stage on March 22 and 23. Downey also has plans to take it to Bahrain in May, and the Dublin Fringe Festival in September.

Rickman staged the first-ever iteration of My Name is Rachel Corrie 14 years ago at the Royal Court Theatre in London, England. The script has since travelled across the world, with theatre groups performing their own versions. "What's so interesting about this script is, because it's based on diaries and not in chronological order, there's no clear stage direction," Yassin says. "So we can do whatever we want with it." Her and Downey collaborated, to make sure the play is always engaging, to ensure the audience doesn't ever get bored following just one actor. "It allows for so much creativity."

The poster for 'My Name is Rachel Corrie' by Danu Dubai
The poster for 'My Name is Rachel Corrie' by Danu Dubai

While Yassin has not worked as a professional actress before – she left her full-time job at Emirates NBD just a few months ago to pursue her passions – she's been involved in show business for a few years, and has performed on stages since she was a child. She was even a contestant on the The X Factor in the UK back in 2012 (incidentally, that was the same year as James Arthur, who also lived in Bahrain – "it was destined for someone from Bahrain to win that year!" Yassin laughs). "I sang Foolish Games by Jewel and got four yesses from the judges, but I didn't like the atmosphere. I realised it was a very unnatural way for me to become a singer. Although it was an amazing experience and I got into bootcamp, I decided not to go ahead."

Yassin feels she has a lot in common with American peace activist Rachel Corrie. Courtesy Danu Dubai
Yassin feels she has a lot in common with American peace activist Rachel Corrie. Courtesy Danu Dubai

Now, alongside her acting projects, Yassin is also working on starting up a business that empowers working-class women to join the workforce. This is another reason why she felt she related so deeply with Corrie, as the pair of them were and are passionate about closing the gap between classes.

Above all, Yassin feels that their privileged upbringings led them both to have a similar outlook on life. It is this quote from Corrie that speaks to her most:

“We are all born and some day we’ll all die. Most likely to some degree alone. But what if our aloneness isn’t a tragedy? What if our aloneness allows us to speak the truth without being afraid? What if our aloneness is what allows us to adventure, to experience the world as a dynamic presence, as a changeable, interactive thing? Because if I was in Bosnia or Rwanda or who knows where else, needless deaths wouldn’t be a symbol to me, it wouldn’t be a metaphor, it would be a reality.”

The director, Downey, agrees this is perhaps her most powerful message. “We cannot choose where we are born, but we can help,” he says. “Theatre might not be able to change the world but it can change people. Rachel says that she ‘can wash dishes’ to help. I can make theatre.”

March 22-23, 8pm, free with registration online at www.courtyardplayhouse.com

Abramovich London

A Kensington Palace Gardens house with 15 bedrooms is valued at more than £150 million.

A three-storey penthouse at Chelsea Waterfront bought for £22 million.

Steel company Evraz drops more than 10 per cent in trading after UK officials said it was potentially supplying the Russian military.

Sale of Chelsea Football Club is now impossible.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
A little about CVRL

Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.

One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases. 

The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery. 

THE%C2%A0SPECS
%3Cp%3EEngine%3A%204-cylinder%202.5-litre%20%2F%202-litre%20turbo%0D%3Cbr%3EPower%3A%20188hp%20%2F%20248hp%0D%3Cbr%3ETorque%3A%20244Nm%20%2F%20370Nm%0D%3Cbr%3ETransmission%3A%207-speed%20auto%0D%3Cbr%3EOn%20sale%3A%20now%0D%3Cbr%3EPrice%3A%20From%20Dh110%2C000%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company

The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.

He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.

“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.

“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.

HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon. 

With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.

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Company Fact Box

Company name/date started: Abwaab Technologies / September 2019

Founders: Hamdi Tabbaa, co-founder and CEO. Hussein Alsarabi, co-founder and CTO

Based: Amman, Jordan

Sector: Education Technology

Size (employees/revenue): Total team size: 65. Full-time employees: 25. Revenue undisclosed

Stage: early-stage startup 

Investors: Adam Tech Ventures, Endure Capital, Equitrust, the World Bank-backed Innovative Startups SMEs Fund, a London investment fund, a number of former and current executives from Uber and Netflix, among others.

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

Available: Now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets

The Kingfisher Secret
Anonymous, Penguin Books

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

Cinco in numbers

Dh3.7 million

The estimated cost of Victoria Swarovski’s gem-encrusted Michael Cinco wedding gown

46

The number, in kilograms, that Swarovski’s wedding gown weighed.

1,000

The hours it took to create Cinco’s vermillion petal gown, as seen in his atelier [note, is the one he’s playing with in the corner of a room]

50

How many looks Cinco has created in a new collection to celebrate Ballet Philippines’ 50th birthday

3,000

The hours needed to create the butterfly gown worn by Aishwarya Rai to the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

1.1 million

The number of followers that Michael Cinco’s Instagram account has garnered.

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETuhoon%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EYear%20started%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EJune%202021%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECo-founders%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFares%20Ghandour%2C%20Dr%20Naif%20Almutawa%2C%20Aymane%20Sennoussi%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERiyadh%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Ehealth%20care%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESize%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E15%20employees%2C%20%24250%2C000%20in%20revenue%0D%3Cbr%3EI%3Cstrong%3Envestment%20stage%3A%20s%3C%2Fstrong%3Eeed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EWamda%20Capital%2C%20Nuwa%20Capital%2C%20angel%20investors%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Sole survivors
  • Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
  • George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
  • Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
  • Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
About RuPay

A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank

RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards

It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.

In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments

The name blends two words rupee and payment

Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs

Key products and UAE prices

iPhone XS
With a 5.8-inch screen, it will be an advance version of the iPhone X. It will be dual sim and comes with better battery life, a faster processor and better camera. A new gold colour will be available.
Price: Dh4,229

iPhone XS Max
It is expected to be a grander version of the iPhone X with a 6.5-inch screen; an inch bigger than the screen of the iPhone 8 Plus.
Price: Dh4,649

iPhone XR
A low-cost version of the iPhone X with a 6.1-inch screen, it is expected to attract mass attention. According to industry experts, it is likely to have aluminium edges instead of stainless steel.
Price: Dh3,179

Apple Watch Series 4
More comprehensive health device with edge-to-edge displays that are more than 30 per cent bigger than displays on current models.

Getting%20there%20and%20where%20to%20stay
%3Cp%3EFly%20with%20Etihad%20Airways%20from%20Abu%20Dhabi%20to%20New%20York%E2%80%99s%20JFK.%20There's%2011%20flights%20a%20week%20and%20economy%20fares%20start%20at%20around%20Dh5%2C000.%3Cbr%3EStay%20at%20The%20Mark%20Hotel%20on%20the%20city%E2%80%99s%20Upper%20East%20Side.%20Overnight%20stays%20start%20from%20%241395%20per%20night.%3Cbr%3EVisit%20NYC%20Go%2C%20the%20official%20destination%20resource%20for%20New%20York%20City%20for%20all%20the%20latest%20events%2C%20activites%20and%20openings.%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2018 Chevrolet Trailblazer

Price, base / as tested Dh99,000 / Dh132,000

Engine 3.6L V6

Transmission: Six-speed automatic

Power 275hp @ 6,000rpm

Torque 350Nm @ 3,700rpm

Fuel economy combined 12.2L / 100km

The Transfiguration

Director: Michael O’Shea

Starring: Eric Ruffin, Chloe Levine

Three stars

LA LIGA FIXTURES

Thursday (All UAE kick-off times)

Sevilla v Real Betis (midnight)

Friday

Granada v Real Betis (9.30pm)

Valencia v Levante (midnight)

Saturday

Espanyol v Alaves (4pm)

Celta Vigo v Villarreal (7pm)

Leganes v Real Valladolid (9.30pm)

Mallorca v Barcelona (midnight)

Sunday

Atletic Bilbao v Atletico Madrid (4pm)

Real Madrid v Eibar (9.30pm)

Real Sociedad v Osasuna (midnight)

Indoor cricket in a nutshell

Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sept 16-20, Insportz, Dubai

16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership

Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.

Zones

A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full

Tips to stay safe during hot weather
  • Stay hydrated: Drink plenty of fluids, especially water. Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which can increase dehydration.
  • Seek cool environments: Use air conditioning, fans, or visit community spaces with climate control.
  • Limit outdoor activities: Avoid strenuous activity during peak heat. If outside, seek shade and wear a wide-brimmed hat.
  • Dress appropriately: Wear lightweight, loose and light-coloured clothing to facilitate heat loss.
  • Check on vulnerable people: Regularly check in on elderly neighbours, young children and those with health conditions.
  • Home adaptations: Use blinds or curtains to block sunlight, avoid using ovens or stoves, and ventilate living spaces during cooler hours.
  • Recognise heat illness: Learn the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke (dizziness, confusion, rapid pulse, nausea), and seek medical attention if symptoms occur.
Sunday's games

All times UAE:

Tottenham Hotspur v Crystal Palace, 4pm

Manchester City v Arsenal, 6.15pm

Everton v Watford, 8.30pm

Chelsea v Manchester United, 8.30pm

The biog

Name: Dhabia Khalifa AlQubaisi

Age: 23

How she spends spare time: Playing with cats at the clinic and feeding them

Inspiration: My father. He’s a hard working man who has been through a lot to provide us with everything we need

Favourite book: Attitude, emotions and the psychology of cats by Dr Nicholes Dodman

Favourit film: 101 Dalmatians - it remind me of my childhood and began my love of dogs 

Word of advice: By being patient, good things will come and by staying positive you’ll have the will to continue to love what you're doing

Fixtures (all in UAE time)

Friday

Everton v Burnley 11pm

Saturday

Bournemouth v Tottenham Hotspur 3.30pm

West Ham United v Southampton 6pm

Wolves v Fulham 6pm

Cardiff City v Crystal Palace 8.30pm

Newcastle United v Liverpool 10.45pm

Sunday

Chelsea v Watford 5pm

Huddersfield v Manchester United 5pm

Arsenal v Brighton 7.30pm

Monday

Manchester City v Leicester City 11pm

 

RESULT

Copa del Rey, semi-final second leg

Real Madrid 0
Barcelona 3 (Suarez (50', 73' pen), Varane (69' OG)

The Year Earth Changed

Directed by:Tom Beard

Narrated by: Sir David Attenborough

Stars: 4