Scarves out: thousands plan STC-style pro-Palestine stage protests
A group of 3200 Australian actors and musicians are preparing to don Palestinian scarves on stages across the country, in a repeat of the anti-Israel stunt that split the STC.
Thousands of actors, musicians and theatre-makers have signed up to a call to wear Palestinian scarves on stages across the country, in a repeat of the anti-Israel stunt that split the Sydney Theatre Company apart.
Actors Mabel Li and Megan Wilding – who hijacked the opening night of the Seagull wearing keffiyehs earlier this month – are among more than 3200 Australian creatives who have signed a letter calling on Anthony Albanese and the nation’s top arts institutions to back a ceasefire and withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories.
Signatories to the letter – which includes the controversial statement to “from the river to the sea” – include House of the Dragon star Milly Alcock, leading screen actors Miranda Tapsell and Kate Box, and popular podcaster Abbie Chatfield. Stars from the ABC including comedian Celia Pacquola and former SBS writers and The Feed comedy stars Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst have also signed the campaign. A number of other creatives including drag queens, a self-described “healer”, a “gallery installation technician”, a plethora of online influencers including Constance Hall and regular Guardian Australia columnist and ABC contributor Clem Bastow have added their names to the list, along with staff from the Victorian government.
The letter also calls on creatives and audience members across the nation to wear traditional Palestinian scarves on stage this Wednesday.
“The coalition appeals to arts institutions across the country to join in the call for a ceasefire, underlining the influential role such institutions can play in fostering a climate of understanding and compassion. They are subsequently planning a collective day of action on December 13th, encouraging creatives and audiences all across Australia to show up for Palestine, and don their keffiyehs, shirts and pins,” a statement from the pro-Palestine protests says.
Wilding and Li’s original scarf stunt led to an outcry from thousands of theatre patrons, the resignations of two directors from the STC’s fundraising arm – PR veteran Judi Hausmann and fashion boss Alex Schuman – and the company putting two separate apologies.
The STC in its second apology ordered actors in most cases to keep their political positions off stage and said that “when our audiences attend a production, they come to experience the content in that play and that play only.”
This new pro-Palestine letter attacks the STC directly for its repudiation of The Seagull hijack, and accuses the company and other arts bodies of “coddling” to donors and subscribers.
“Shame on STC for commodifying the Black & Brown bodies and stories on their stages for social and financial capital, while demanding they stay silent. Shame on contemporary arts institutions that welcome Palestinian artists into their spaces as long as they are silent,” the letter reads.
“Shame on institutions that make moral compromises in preference for coddling their donors and subscribers.”
The STC has allowed Palestinian actor Violette Ayad, who stars in its play Oil, to wear a Palestinian keffiyeh throughout the show’s run. Members of Ayad’s family in Gaza have been killed in the war.
This the latest in a number of anti-Israel stunts and follows a petition signed by more than 300 Australian journalists that calls for media outlets to treat the democratically-elected Israeli government like terror organisation Hamas when it comes to reporting on the ongoing conflict.
The letter was endorsed and circulated by the journalists’ union’s National Media Section committee last month, but since a number of leading news executives including those from Nine newspapers, ABC and the Guardian Australia have warned staff the campaign could bring their mastheads’ “impartiality” into disrepute. The Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance is now distancing itself from the protest.
An MEAA spokesman told The Australian on Sunday the petition “did not originate from the union” and does not have the support of the MEAA Board or “the union as a whole”.
“Only the National Media Section committee has,” he said. “The board has never been approached about the letter so it can’t disendorse something it has never endorsed.”
More Coverage
Kylie’s ‘secret weapon’ revealed ahead of world tour
By her own admission, Kylie Minogue has never been one for looking too far beyond the present, so her artistic longevity ahead of album No.17 must be as surprising to her as anyone else.
Don’t call it a remake: The Office Australia makes long-awaited debut
The show’s star Steen Raskopoulos says the local version of the Ricky Gervais comedy classic had to be ‘properly Australian’. What can viewers expect from the most anticipated release of the year?