Positions

Written by

Ophelia Benson

in

Ok bro, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Northern Irish actor Gerard McCarthy has pulled out of the suicide awareness play Right Before I Go at London’s Soho Theatre, after Dame Maureen Lipman was announced as joining the cast for its World Suicide Prevention Day performance on September 10.

Mr McCarthy, best known for his role in BBC dramas The Fall and Call the Midwife, had been part of the production during its Edinburgh Festival Fringe run and was set to return for the London dates.

However, he said Ms Lipman’s repeatedly stated positions on the Israel-Palestine conflict made it impossible for him to remain.

Ah that’s it, is it. A woman and a Jew – just overwhelmed your ability to maintain, did she?

In a public statement issued over the weekend, the actor said he had privately raised his concerns before ultimately deciding to step away from the show entirely, describing the situation as regrettable but necessary.

Oh he privately raised his concerns, did he. Meaning he tried to get her kicked out. How very plucky of him.

Comments

4 responses to “Positions”

  1. Ian Hargreaves Avatar
    Ian Hargreaves

    “A woman and a Jew”

    Be honest – do you think he’d have have pulled out of a show co-starring the far more outspoken Miriam Margolyes?

    You know the answer is no, because although she is a Jew, and a woman, she’s publicly AGAINST genocide. That’s the difference.

  2. Piglet Avatar
    Piglet

    Just looked him up on Wikipedia to see what else he’d been in and of course he’s a they/themmer.

    Oh he privately raised his concerns, did he. Meaning he tried to get her kicked out. How very plucky of him.

    I’m sure the conversation went something like “no, we’re not firing Maureen, we could get done for discrimination, also she’s the biggest name we have” “well, it’s her or me” “okay then, have a good one”

  3. Holms Avatar
    Holms

    A happy day for his understudy!

  4. Lady Mondegreen Avatar
    Lady Mondegreen

    Ian Hargeaves @#1

    although she is a Jew, and a woman, she’s publicly AGAINST genocide. That’s the difference.

    Really? Be honest, Ian. Is the difference that Margolyes is “against genocide” — WHICH WE ALL ARE — or that she agrees with McCarthy’s position, which presumably is that “Israel is committing genocide” — which is empirically indefensible?

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