Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination, The Coronet Theatre

In 1995, the year after he jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in embracing the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a right wing extremist, Yigal Amir. The story of Rabin’s assassination is the subject of a live production showing at The Coronet theatre in Notting Hill, directed by Israeli filmmaker Amos Gitai, starring French soprano and actress Natalie Dessay and French-Swiss actress Irène Jacob.

Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination is a stage adaptation of Gitai’s 2015 film Rabin, the Last Day, which was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival. Its arrival at the Coronet marks the UK premiere of the show, which has already enjoyed sell-out stints in Paris and New York. With a limited three-day run in London, from 4 - 6 November, you'll want to book in advance if you want to see it.


Yitzhak Rabin: Chronicle of an Assassination, The Coronet Theatre. Photo: Natalie Dessay, Credit: Laura Stevens

The story investigates the high-profile assassination, questioning how and why it came about in the wake of such a monumental step towards peace for the two nations, and what this murder says about the society in which it took place.

Yitzhak Rabin is written by Gitai himself, together with screenwirter Marie-José Sanselme (Promised Land, A Tramway in Jerusalem). Like Lucy Prebble’s A Very Expensive Poison, which focused on the assassination of Russian defector Alexander Litvinenko from the perspective of his wife Marina, Yitzhak Rabin draws movingly on the memories of Rabin’s widow, Leah.

Joining Dessay and Jacob in the cast of singers and musicians to create a production ‘halfway between lament and lullaby’ is Louis Sclavis on clarinet, Bruno Maurice on accordion and Alexey Kochetkov on violin. The production also features a special performance from the English Voices choir.