In Israel, cries of protest were instant when the Haifa Municipal Theater announced last month that Vanessa Redgrave would appear twice on its stage in "Brecht in Exile," a selection of works written by the dramatist Bertolt Brecht after he had left Nazi Germany.
The issue was not Redgrave's acting ability but her ardent support of the Palestine Liberation Organization and her condemnations of Israel over the years.Some critics argued it was an exercise in masochism for a tax-supported theater in Israel to invite someone who had spoken scathingly about "crimes of the Zionist nation." On the other side were those who argued that what counts is an actress's talent, not her politics.
As ever, the box office settled the debate.
The Haifa theater announced that with more than 90 percent of the tickets unsold, it had canceled the two performances, which were scheduled for this week.
"We spoke to her this morning, and she was very sorry," Amalia Eyal, a theater spokeswoman, said. "But she realized, too, that we must listen to the audience."
The exile the audience seemed to prefer was not Brecht's, but Redgrave's.