A sold-out London play that received a favorable 5 star review from the London Jewish Chronicle has had it posters banned from the London subway. The play, Bad Jews, is not anti-Semitic nor is the poster, and the ban on the advertisement has many baffled.
The play is a comedy about members of a family who are brought together following the death of their Holocaust-survivor grandfather.
The website describes the play: “A beloved grandfather has died and a treasured family heirloom with religious significance is up for grabs. But who is most deserving of it? Bossy, overbearing, fanatically religious Daphna? Her wealthy cousin Liam who’s just returned from skiing with his non-Jewish girlfriend Melody? Or Jonah, his brother, who would prefer not to get involved in the fight? A cramped Manhattan apartment becomes the setting for a viciously hilarious quarrel about family, faith and legacy as the contenders set at each other’s throats on the night after the funeral.”
Producer Danny Moar does not agree with the the ban. He said that the advertisement “could not be less anti-Semitic” and called on Transport for London, the transportation agency that runs the London subway, to reinstate it.
“Half the cast are Jewish, I’m Jewish, the writer [Joshua Harmon] is Jewish and the word ‘bad’ in the title, in so far as it matters, doesn’t mean ‘evil’ – it means ‘non-observant.’
“This is a form of censorship which is so weird and ironic when, in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo events, everyone marched against censorship.
“It won’t cripple the show but we want it to be seen by as many people as possible and we’re being prevented from trying to achieve that.”
The TFL responded: “The advert ‘Bad Jews’ was previously displayed on our network as our advertising contractor approved it without consulting us. It was subsequently submitted for display again and has been rejected as it contravened our advertising policy, which states that adverts will not be approved if they may cause widespread or serious offense.”
The Board of Deputies of British Jews, the main representative organization of the country’s Jewish community, had no objection to the poster. “We are happy that [Transport for London] is sensitive to anti-Semitism in the light of the recent terror attacks in Europe, and it is probably a good thing that they err on the side of caution. However, in this particular case we don’t have a problem with the advert,” the group said in a statement.
