A West End actor has pulled out of a production following the casting of pro-Israel actor Dame Maureen Lipman.
Northern Irish actor Gerard McCarthy had been due to appear in Right Before I Go at Soho Theatre after taking part in its Edinburgh Festival Fringe run.
However, the actor, who has worked on BBC drama Call the Midwife and The Fall, has decided to quit the production after Dame Maureen joined the London cast.
In a statement on Instagram, the actor said that Lipman’s positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict, which she has “repeatedly expressed”, gave him no choice but to leave.
“I did not feel comfortable personally promoting her involvement,” he wrote to his 11,000 followers.
“I did not ask for her casting to be reconsidered or expect anyone else to share my position. I simply chose not to use my own platform to promote someone whose political views are at odds with my own.”
He said that he was sad to leave the production and expressed his gratitude to his former cast and crew, though stressed that it was the right decision for him.
“But sometimes you have to be prepared to walk away from something when staying would mean compromising something that matters much more.”
Dame Maureen Lipman has faced criticism online due to her pro-Israel views and has even had to hire a security guard after pro-Palestine activists targeted a theatre in Aberdeen she was performing in.
Responding to McCarthy’s decision to step down, Dame Maureen said the Irish actor needs to “wake up and smell the grass”.
Branding his actions as “virtue-signalling”, the 80-year-old claimed that McCarthy made no attempt to speak with her before he left the show.
“I am asking for him to have the courage to face me and tell me what he thinks I should do, or think, or say,” she told The Times.
“I have worked with actors for 60 years who often don’t share my politics. I don’t ask them, and they don’t ask me.”
Dame Maureen had been due to star in the show for one performance on 10 September, to coincide with World Mental Health Day.
“It was just one day, it’s not like we are stuck in the wings for six weeks when he would have to inhale the stench [of] my views,” she said.
Before I Go will start a five-day run at Soho Theatre from September 5-10, with each performance followed by a discussion between cast, audience and a mental health professional.
