Subscribers cancel memberships, pull funding after Belvoir St Theatre pro-Palestine stance

Patrons have cancelled subscriptions and demanded answers from Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre after cast and crew published a ‘grossly one-sided’ pro-Palestine statement.

The front of Never Closer’s digital brochure.

Jewish patrons of Sydney’s Belvoir St Theatre have cancelled their subscriptions, threatened to halt donations and demanded answers from the board after cast and crew published a “grossly one-sided” pro-Palestine statement.

The Australian revealed last week how 14 members of the cast and crew of the play Never Closer, which explores friendship during The Troubles in Northern Ireland, had published and signed the statement in the production’s digital brochure.

The statement, which said Israel needed to be stood against for its “genocide and occupation”, and called for donations for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, made no mention of October 7, Hamas being a terror group nor its kidnapped hostages.

Two longstanding Belvoir subscribers wrote to the board on Friday saying they were considering ending their association with the theatre.

“Leaving aside the gross inaccuracies and one-sided bias in the statement, we do not understand what Belvoir is seeking to achieve in supporting it,” they wrote.

“All it has achieved is to alienate us, and other members of the Belvoir community, to the detriment of the theatre and actors.”

The company has so far remained silent on the statement and its fallout.

The Australian understands that over the weekend its 10-person board signed off on a formal response. The response, which was not unanimously supported, is yet to be released. The Australian understands that at least four subscribers from the Jewish community have cancelled their memberships, given their concerns with the statement and company’s position, and that some donors intend to do the same.

The statement signed by 14 of the cast and crew of Never Closer.

“We do not support and attend Belvoir to read political statements made on issues that are clearly divisive in the Belvoir, or the wider, community,” the letter continued, adding that “no one” wanted war or its “horrific consequences”.

“The role of the theatre is to present theatre – not proffer ‘offstage’ politically divisive statements.”

That letter said a “nonpartisan statement” that “acknowledged the war in Gaza, sought a return of innocent hostages, and supported a ceasefire to prevent further civilian casualties” would have been better appreciated.

Another letter to the board called the cast’s statement “misleading, prejudicial and one-sided”.

“It also infers that management and the board endorsed the statement, or at the least have no issue with it,” the letter, sent by a subscriber, read.

“The Jewish community has been traumatised by October 7, and then the responses, such as this, don’t acknowledge the suffering and trauma of innocent Israelis and Jews … (which) demonstrate a deep antipathy or indifference.”

The author wrote that their family was “devastated” that the cast “held no space in their hearts and minds” for all victims of the war, including those lost on October 7.

The Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney's Surry Hills.

“(We) feel empathy for all innocent civilians caught up in wars, started by Hamas, whether they be Palestinian or Israeli,” it said, saying they felt “alienated”.

“I am so sad that we will never be able to subscribe to Belvoir again given the lack of safety we now feel at the theatre.”

The cast and crew statement reads: “Since October 2023, over 36,000 Palestinians have been killed and that number is rising every day”.

“This is genocide. We hold space for their suffering; for their stories. None of us are free until we are all free.

“We join many artists around Australia calling on our government to stand with us against occupation and demand a permanent ceasefire now.”

The statement also included a link to donate to the UNRWA, which has long been a source of concern for the Jewish community, who have urged money to flow to different relief agencies.

Last week, the peak Jewish body called the statement “self-indulgence” and industry veteran Peter Ivany said it did nothing but “divide”.

It follows, in November, the Sydney Theatre Company were embroiled in a weeks-long mire after some cast of its production “The Seagull” took to the stage in keffiyehs during an encore.