London venue denies dropping Israeli LGBTQ+ themed musical due to boycott threat
The Phoenix Arts Club, which abruptly cancelled the event, said it received queries about the 'musical having potential anti-LGBTQ+ themes
A London venue that abruptly cancelled an event by an Israeli artist claims the decision was due to possible anti-LGBTQ+ messages in the event’s advertising, despite the Israeli in question being “proudly queer”.
The Phoenix Arts Club in Soho was due to host a reading of Useful Idiots, a satirical musical by Roi Dolev.
Dolev, who moved to the UK two years ago, previously starred in the Israeli version of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the 1998 LGBTQ+ themed musical, as well as in the Israeli production of La Cage Aux Folles. He told Jewish News his new musical had been inspired by his experiences of feeling unwelcome in LGBTQ+ spaces in the UK after 7 October 2023.
Dolev said he approached the Phoenix, known as a LGTBQ+ friendly venue, back in May, after seeing an Instagram advertisement in which the venue offered to showcase aspiring performance art projects.
His initial correspondence with the venue was extremely positive and showed the venue seemed keen to help with the staging of the event, which was an initial read-through for his musical. Dolev said he had sent the club the poster and associated materials about the subject of the musical.
The promotional blurb for the show read: “A bold new satirical musical about queer activism, global politics and the unintended consequences of trying to do good. Useful Idiots blends chaos and dark humour to critique binary thinking, performative activism, and the fallout of mindless virtue signalling.”
It also included the tagline “They’re here, they’re queer, we’re f**ed.”
The show was supposed to take place in mid-July, with tickets having gone on sale earlier in the month. But then, at the beginning of this week, everything went wrong.
Dolev said he posted about the show on his own Instagram late last week, and that the Phoenix had asked him to “collaborate” with them – which effectively means they would share his post on social media. On Sunday evening, the Phoenix accepted the collaboration, meaning that the event, which had already been advertised on their website for a number of days, with tickets available for purchase, was now also being advertised on Instagram.
The poster for the show featured the words “Useful Idiots”, with a pride flag as well as a watermelon-shaped handbag – the watermelon having become associated with the Pro-Palestinian movement.
“Almost immediately there were comments”, Dolev told Jewish News.
“Not many – three of them. One reading ‘what the f*** is this’, and then two from another person, one of which read ‘free Palestine’ – and the other saying ‘this is disgusting, no-one wants a Zionist play. Phoenix arts club you should be ashamed of yourselves. Guess you’re on the boycott list now’.”
Less than an hour later, Dolev said, the Phoenix abruptly removed its collaboration, meaning that the post about his event was no longer on their Instagram.
“I tried not to make much of it,” he said. “But then one of my friends contacted me and said: ‘I was trying to buy tickets on the website, and the page advertising it is no longer there’. I checked and it was no longer there for me either.”
Next morning, he received an email from a Phoenix staff member, saying that the venue had “made the difficult decision to cancel the upcoming performance of Useful Idiots scheduled for 17 of July. After thoughtful discussions and consideration of several factors, we have growing concerns around the overall safety and suitability of the venue for this event.
“As a programming team, our first priority is to ensure that every performance can take place in an environment that is fully supportive, respectful, and secure for all involved, including artists, crew, and audiences. At this time, we don’t feel confident that those conditions can be guaranteed for this particular performance.
“We are incredibly grateful for your understanding and are open to revisiting future opportunities to collaborate under circumstances where we can ensure a more stable and supportive environment.”
The venue also told Dolev: “Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you’d like to speak further, we’re here.”
Dolev subsequently posted on social media about the cancellation, saying a small invite-only event would now take place elsewhere, and writing: “Thanks for supporting new musicals and the artists who create them, even when they’re Jewish.”
In a series of angry emails, the director of the Phoenix Arts Club, Colin Savage, took issue with the suggestion the performance had been scrapped due to public pressure.
Savage originally responded: “This show has been cancelled because we could not understand the promotional blurb sent to market it. We simply don’t understand what the show is about. As director of the venue – and effectively the publisher for this production – I have advised the team to pause and request a meeting with the producers to clarify its content. That’s all.”
Dolev said that no such meeting had been requested.
Subsequently, Savage said that “two serious concerns” had been brought to the attention of the club “via multiple emails and messages to the club:
“1. The use of the LGBTQ+ flag beside the title Useful Idiots — what is the intended message here? Is it implying that LGBTQ+ individuals are ‘idiots’?
“2. The line ‘They’re here, they’re queer, we’re f***ed’ — what is this suggesting? That the world is doomed because LGBTQ+ people exist?”
Dolev described this to Jewish News as “ridiculous”, pointing out that he himself is “proudly queer”, and that the Phoenix had possessed the relevant promotional material for weeks prior to the sudden cancellation – a cancellation that seemed to occur rapidly as soon as the venue experienced the threat of an anti-Israel boycott on social media.
Savage then followed up with emails threatening to sue Jewish News – and the Jewish Chronicle, which has also published an article on this case – for defamation, citing Dolev’s comment on social media after the cancellation and suggesting that this was a claim that “The Phoenix Arts Club does not welcome Jewish people”, which he described as “completely false and defamatory”.
Dolev confirmed when talking to Jewish News that he did not believe the club or its staff were in any way antisemitic, but had instead pulled the show due to the threat of a boycott.
Savage also said: “We received more complaints from the general public about this piece being anti-LGBTQ+ than anything else”, and went on to describe Dolev as “a lazy arse producer who couldn’t explain if his musical is anti-gay or not”.
Savage also subsequently attempted to bring two high-profile married journalists into the conversation – one Jewish, having apparently worked with them during his previous employment at the BBC. He said: “Do I really have bring in the best known Jewish journalists [sic] in the business to defence us against this nonsense?”
The journalists in question do not appear to have responded to Savage. They have also not contacted Jewish News.
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