Dame Maureen Lipman reveals she had sleepless nights when actors quit play over her pro-Israel views but director persuaded her to stay
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Dame Maureen Lipman has spoken publicly about the toll taken by a backlash over her pro-Israel views, revealing that sleepless nights led her to consider quitting the West End production of Right Before I Go after two co-stars withdrew from the show because of her casting. The 80-year-old Olivier award-winner ultimately chose to stay on after receiving a supportive message from director Abigail Morris, in an episode that has drawn attention to how the Israel-Gaza conflict continues to spill into the arts world.
Actor Gerard McCarthy pulled out of reprising his role when the play transferred to London's Soho Theatre, citing his own political beliefs as incompatible with Lipman's stated views on Israel and Palestine, and was followed by transgender actress Iz Hesketh, who said the production no longer aligned with her values. The dispute came months after pro-Palestinian campaigners targeted Lipman's comedy Allegra in Aberdeen in May with a poster depicting her with devil horns and a pitchfork. Right Before I Go, a not-for-profit play addressing suicide through real suicide notes, is followed by post-show discussions with mental health professionals; Lipman is due to perform on 10 September, coinciding with World Suicide Prevention Day, and said she remained committed given the importance of the subject. The production's spokesman said it respected the sincerity of departing cast members' views while keeping political opinions separate from artistic collaboration.
- Lipman had sleepless nights after co-stars quit play over her Israel views
- Director's supportive email persuaded her to remain in the production
- Follows May incident where protesters targeted her comedy show in Aberdeen
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Right Before I Go is a West End play at the Soho Theatre that deals with the subject of suicide, using real suicide notes and audience discussions with mental health professionals. It stars Dame Maureen Lipman, the 80-year-old actress known for a long career in British theatre and television, and was created by writer Stan Zimmerman after a friend of his took his own life.
The production has been caught up in a row over Lipman's personal views on Israel and Palestine, which some colleagues have said conflict with their own beliefs. Two cast members, actor Gerard McCarthy and actress Iz Hesketh, withdrew from the play after the transfer to Soho Theatre, citing objections to her stance. This came after an earlier incident in May, when campaigners supporting the Palestinian cause targeted performances of another Lipman play, Allegra, in Aberdeen.
The dispute matters because it highlights how the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict continues to spill into public and cultural life in Britain, sometimes affecting the arts and putting individual performers' political views under scrutiny. The theatre's producers have said they respect the sincerity of those who left while maintaining that political opinions should not interfere with artistic collaboration.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Those sympathetic to the departing actors argue that performers have a right of conscience and should not be compelled to share a stage with someone whose public political stances they find morally intolerable, particularly on an issue as fraught as Israel-Palestine where they feel deeply implicated. They see withdrawing as a principled, personal choice rather than an attack, arguing that art is not created in a vacuum and that collaborators are entitled to weigh who they work alongside, especially when they believe silence would be complicity. On this view, the campaigners' broader anger, however crudely expressed at times, reflects a genuine and widely shared moral urgency about the conflict that should not simply be dismissed as harassment.
The case against
Those sympathetic to Dame Maureen Lipman argue that an actor's personal political opinions, however sincerely held, should not determine who is fit to perform alongside them, and that conflating an artist's off-stage views with their professional conduct sets a troubling precedent for a pluralistic theatre industry. They point out that Lipman has committed no wrongdoing beyond expressing a lawful opinion, and that being targeted with threatening imagery or pressured into quitting a production dealing sensitively with suicide risks real harm to her and to the work itself. On this view, robust artistic collaboration depends on tolerating disagreement rather than enforcing ideological conformity through exclusion.
Full account
Dame Maureen Lipman has said the row over her support for Israel left her losing sleep, after two fellow cast members withdrew from a London production in which she was due to appear. The 80-year-old actress, best known to British audiences from Coronation Street and Roman Polanski's The Pianist, is preparing to appear in Right Before I Go, a suicide-awareness play transferring to the Soho Theatre, with her performance scheduled for 10 September, which also marks World Suicide Prevention Day.
The controversy began after actor Gerard McCarthy, known for roles in Call the Midwife, The Fall and Hollyoaks, pulled out of reprising a part he had played at the Edinburgh Fringe once Dame Maureen's casting for the London run was confirmed. McCarthy, who is non-binary, said the actress's repeatedly stated views on Israel and Palestine sat too far apart from his own for him to continue promoting the show, though he stressed he had not asked producers to reconsider her casting or expected any other cast member to follow suit. Fellow performer Iz Hesketh subsequently withdrew too, saying that once made aware of Dame Maureen's public remarks, she no longer felt able to align herself with the next stage of the production.
Dame Maureen, who has for some time been an outspoken defender of Israel and has previously likened the current climate of protest to fascism and drawn comparisons between antisemitism in Britain and 1930s Germany, admitted she had considered stepping aside altogether so as not to overshadow the production, but said she was ultimately talked round by the play's director, Abigail Morris, after an email she described as sympathetic and understanding. She has spoken of the experience as frightening and unwarranted, while also bracing herself for a hostile reception, saying she expected to be jeered but was determined to go ahead regardless. She has also been robust in defending herself publicly, accusing McCarthy of cowardice and grandstanding for withdrawing without speaking to her directly, while also inviting him to meet and discuss their differences over tea.
The play itself, written by American writer Stan Zimmerman and inspired by the death of a friend, draws on real suicide notes from a range of contributors, including veterans, bullied teenagers, LGBTQ+ people and those who survived attempts, with each performance followed by a discussion involving the cast, audience and a mental health professional. The dispute is not the first time Dame Maureen's political views have generated controversy on stage: in May, campaigners opposed to her stance on Israel targeted performances of her play Allegra in Aberdeen with imagery depicting her as a devil.
Where outlets differ
The Mail's account, drawing on Dame Maureen's interview with The Times, foregrounds her admission of sleepless nights and the director's intervention, and includes extra background on a previous protest against her Aberdeen show Allegra, which the Hollywood Reporter piece does not mention.
The Hollywood Reporter version, based on a direct email exchange with Dame Maureen, gives much greater weight to the political back-and-forth — including her past comments comparing anti-Israel protest to fascism, her remarks likening British antisemitism to 1930s Germany, and her public criticism of McCarthy as 'cowardly' and guilty of 'virtue-signalling' — details largely absent from the Mail report.
The two accounts differ slightly on Gerard McCarthy's gender identity description: one refers to him using he/him pronouns throughout, while the Hollywood Reporter notes he is non-binary and uses both he/him and they/them.
The Hollywood Reporter provides more detail on the play's writer, Stan Zimmerman, and the significance of the 10 September date coinciding with World Suicide Prevention Day, while the Mail's report includes more description of the play's subject matter and format.
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