Palestinian flag displayed during curtain call of Royal Opera House performance
During the curtain call at the Royal Opera House for the play Il Trovatore, a cast member unfurled a Palestine flag and resisted attempts to remove it.
The cast members were going through the curtain call for the last time on July 19th, as it was closing night. Choosing an opportune moment, the performer in question held the Palestinian flag stoically, shaking it once.
While the audience continued to applaud the performance, a video of the incident shows a man from the stage wings trying to wrestle the flag away from the performer. The person resists and holds on to it for the remainder of the curtain call. A woman can be seen attempting to speak to the performer, but they look straight on and do not heed her threats.
The incident was quickly discussed on X following the show. Theatre goer Stephen Ratcliffe, who was also watching the production, wrote: “Controversy at end of Trovatore @rbo_org tonight when an extra/chorus member unfurled a Palestinian flag. Off stage manager tried to grapple with him but he held his ground. Bet he won’t be working there again.”
A spokesperson for the Royal Ballet and Opera has since commented on this act of solidarity. They said: “The display of the flag was an unauthorised action by the artist. It was not approved by the Royal Ballet and Opera and is a wholly inappropriate act.”
They also added, “The display of the flag was a spontaneous and unauthorised action by the artist.”
Recently, the depiction of the Palestinian flag also proved an issue for Irish band The Murder Capital; the post-punk band refused to play a show in Berlin after the venue did not allow the band to display a Palestine flag; the band then faced a string of show cancellations throughout Europe and ultimately had to cancel their US and Canada tour due to “ongoing travel uncertainties.”
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