One Caryl Churchill

Friday, February 20, 2009 at 12:19pm | Edit Note | Delete
One Caryl Churchill


Tell her the play’s anti-Semitic

Don’t tell her that

Tell her what she wants to hear

Tell her what she believes

Tell her they’re just trying to deflect criticism from Israel.

Tell her it’s not anti-Semitic to criticize Israel

Don’t tell her that nobody claimed it was

Tell her she can say this to create a straw man

Tell her she can say this when she's attacked for her play

Tell her it’s possible to criticise the actions of Israel without being anti-Semitic

No but tell her she failed to do so.

Don’t tell her that.

Tell her the play was brave

Tell her she said what others think but are too scared to say

Tell her she shows us how Jewish children are bred to believe in the "otherness" of Palestinians

Tell her that’s what Michael Billington said in the Guardian.

Don’t tell her that’s not problematic

Don’t tell her that’s not anti-Semitic

Don’t tell her that’s not her problem

Tell her it’s Billington’s.

Tell her I’m Jewish and I wasn’t “bred” that way.

Don’t tell her the play lacks nuance

Don’t tell her the play’s simplistic

Don’t tell her the obvious.

Tell her it portrays Israeli parents as inhuman triumphalists who care little about anything except their children’s feelings, and who teach them that Arabs are sub-human and must be hated

Don’t tell her you really can’t believe everything you see on television (or on stage)

Don’t tell her the UN school was never actually bombed but no one seems to care

Tell her that as a playwright she should know that the silences speak volumes

Don’t tell her she was silent about so much

Don’t tell her that.

Don’t frighten her.

No but tell her about another play.

Tell her about ‘Seven Palestinian Children’.

Tell her the play starts with the Naqba and ends with Hamas.

No but tell her this play is not an attack on anyone, it is a cry of grief

Tell her at the end a man stands and speaks of Jewish Children covered in blood and smiles

Tell her he quotes from the elders of the protocols of Zion

Tell her he says that Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.

Tell her he says he’s a suicide bomber

Tell her he says he wants to kill children

Don’t tell her that.

Don’t frighten her.

Tell her such a play would be grossly unfair

Tell her such a play would misrepresent Palestinians

Tell her such a play would be racist.

Tell her the Guardian’s critics would slam such a play.

No but tell her the Guardian’s critics applauded hers.

Tell her the Royal Court would never stage such a play

No but tell her the Royal Court proudly staged hers.

No but don’t tell her her play was anti-Semitic

Tell her it was criticism of Israel

Don’t tell her the two are not always mutually exclusive.

Don’t tell her that.

Don’t frighten her.


Tell them you'll use Jewish actors so it's all okay