Maureen Lipman, the BAFTA-nominated actress known for her work in The Pianist, has hit out at co-star Gerard McCarthy after he quit their Soho Theatre play over her pro-Israel stance.
Lipman and McCarthy were due to share a stage in Stan Zimmerman’s Right Before I Go on September 5, but McCarthy walked away from the project citing Lipman’s political views.
In an Instagram post, McCarthy said: “Because of views she has publicly and repeatedly expressed regarding Israel and Palestine, I did not feel comfortable personally promoting her involvement.
“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.”
Responding in The Times of London, Lipman described McCarthy as “cowardly” for quitting the play without speaking to her directly. She said his Instagram post was “virtue-signalling” and called on the actor, who has appeared in The Fall, to “grow up.”
“I am asking for him to have the courage to face me and tell me what he thinks it is I should do, or think, or say,” she said. “I would like to reassure him that I will not be arriving with a star of David on my forehead, nor am I trying to argue him out of his point of view.
“He has to wake up and smell the grass. 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.”
Lipman added that McCarthy’s position was curious given it came just weeks after he attended the opening night of Richmond Theatre’s production of Allegra, in which the Olivier Award-winning actress was the lead. McCarthy posed for a photo in front of a poster featuring Lipman’s name in large print.
“I would love to know what has changed in the last six weeks. Has he become radicalised, and by whom?” Lipman said. “I am at a loss, but I would like to extend the olive branch and get a proper understanding of his problem with me.
“I am simply a working woman of a certain age who believes that the state of Israel should be allowed to exist. I am an actor, not a politician. There is very little I can do to influence (Israeli prime minister) Bibi Netanyahu, nor would I want to.”
Lipman, 80, supports Israel’s right to exist and defend itself, and has previously been critical of artists who publicly back Palestine without mentioning Hamas.
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