Dame Maureen Lipman has thanked supporters who gathered outside the opening night of her West End play after weeks of anti-Israel protests that forced the veteran actress to hire private security and sparked widespread concern across the Jewish community.
Dozens of people assembled outside the Harold Pinter Theatre on Wednesday evening ahead of the London premiere of Allegra, in a demonstration organised by grassroots campaign group Our Fight.
The group said the rally was intended to send a message that those protesting against Lipman did not represent mainstream Britain and to show solidarity with one of the country’s best-known Jewish performers after a string of demonstrations throughout her UK tour.
Lipman, 80, was unable to meet those gathered because her security team advised it was not safe for her to do so.
In a message shared after the performance, she thanked those who had turned out and criticised campaigners who had repeatedly targeted her at theatres across Britain.
She said: “The theatre is a sacred space and not somewhere for you to make political points or air your grievances.
“If you think you have a right to free speech, then you must also believe that I have the same right to think differently from you.
“My intention is to bring pleasure to hundreds of people every day; sadly, yours (the protesters) is to disrupt the trust between actor and audience in order to get publicity for such a hateful cause.
“I’m so grateful to those who turned out to support me.”
The show’s tour has been accompanied by protests from pro-Palestinian activists since it opened earlier this year.
Ahead of performances in Aberdeen, campaigners called for the production to be cancelled because of Lipman’s outspoken support for Israel. Protesters also demonstrated outside performances in Glasgow, where activists gathered outside the Theatre Royal and online campaigns targeted the actress.
During the Scottish leg of the tour, a doctored promotional image portraying Lipman with devil horns and a pitchfork was circulated online by activists. The image was condemned by Jewish organisations and politicians as using a classic antisemitic trope. Police Scotland later recorded the complaint as a non-crime hate incident.
The protests continued as the tour moved south.
Last month, demonstrators gathered outside the Theatre Royal in Bath while Allegra was being performed, handing out leaflets and displaying placards criticising Lipman’s support for Israel. Security at the venue was increased, with bag searches carried out before the performance, although the protest passed peacefully.
Writing in The Spectator last month, Lipman revealed the sustained campaign had left her with little choice but to employ security guards.
She wrote: “I refuse to be cancelled,” adding that she had been “forced by government inaction on antisemitism to hire security for the tour.”
As previously reported by Jewish News, Lipman has spoken openly about the intimidation she has experienced since becoming one of Britain’s most prominent Jewish voices defending Israel following the 7 October Hamas attacks.
Wednesday’s demonstration marked a different scene outside the theatre, with supporters arriving to back the actress rather than to protest against her.
The rally formed part of Our Fight’s recently launched #Mensch campaign, which encourages non-Jewish allies to stand publicly with Britain’s Jewish community against antisemitism. The organisation describes a “mensch” as someone who demonstrates “genuine decency and moral backbone” by standing with Jews at a time of rising antisemitism.
Our Fight founder Mark Birbeck said: “Maureen is a national treasure and the abuse she has sustained is a national embarrassment.
“No British Jew, especially not one who has done so much for our culture and national life, should be subjected to intimidation of this kind.
“We felt it was Our Fight’s responsibility to reassure Maureen that the British mainstream is on her side.
“I’m grateful to all of the mensches who turned out to oppose hatred and defend one of Britain’s and its Jewish community’s most important public figures.”
Among those attending was comedian and GB News presenter Josh Howie, who described Lipman as “a figurehead for the Jews in this country.”
He added: “The pro-Palestine activists sought to attack her, but an attack on her is really an attack on all British Jews.
“Like the vast majority of British Jews, she believes Israel has the right to exist and the right to defend itself.
“The fact that an 80-year-old lady has had to hire security because she feels unsafe is absolutely disgusting.”
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