Guild and Equity protest against Hungarian theatre appointment

01 February 2012
Posted in Theatre



hungary-protest

Actor Sam West (left), Guild President David Edgar (middle) and Equity President Malcolm Sinclair handed in a statement to the Hungarian Embassy earlier this week, protesting at the imposition of a supporter of a far-right party as director of the New Theatre in Budapest.

Gyorgy Dorner backs the anti-Roma, anti-gay and anti-semitic party Jobbik. His policy is to stop producing 'foreign garbage' and concentrate on Hungarian plays, including those by his friend and advisor Istvan Csurka, an open anti-semite and president of the Hungarian Justice and Life Party.

The imposed change at the New Theatre has provoked protests from theatre-makers throughout Europe and beyond.

The text of the Equity/Guild statement was published as a letter in the Guardian on Friday, signed by 68 actors, playwrights and directors. Actor signatories included Henry Goodman, Martin Jarvis, Antony Sher, Janet Suzman and Zoe Wanamaker; among the writers were Howard Brenton, Michael Frayn, David Hare, Mark Ravenhill and Arnold Wesker, and the letter was also signed by the artistic directors of the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal Court.

Photo: Marcus Clackson

Comments  

 
0 #1 J. Grant 2012-04-07 04:54
If the Guild opposes the appointment of "far right" theatre professionals, will it take a similar stand on "far left" ones too? (e.g. communists)? It seems problematicfor an arts guild to oppose appointments based on the person's politics. Interestingly, during the McCarthy period in Hollywood the same arguments were made to oppose theatre professionals appointments with far sounder basis. The Communist Party was not simply "another political party" like the democrats and republicans. Unlike the first two, it was not ruled from Washington D.C. but from Moscow with an agenda subversive to American democracy. David Edgar is a far Left writer with no question strong political views. Should he be enlisting the endorsement of the Writers Guild to try and block theatre appointments of people he opposes politically? Perhaps the Writers Guild would best serve its membership by supporting Free Speech for everyone, everywhere and allow the public decide what ideas it will or will not patronize.
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