A NATIONWIDE tour by the musical Jerry Springer the Opera is in jeopardy with a big investor considering pulling out because of threats by a militant Christian group.

The backer, who was to have provided 40% of the funding for the tour, was targeted by Christian Voice, an evangelical group that has condemned the musical — based on the American television show — as “filthy and blasphemous”.

Earlier this month the organisation forced Maggie’s Centres, a Scottish cancer charity, to turn down a £3,000 donation from the show by threatening to picket its premises. Christian Voice has also warned regional theatres that they will be picketed if they put on the show during its nine-month tour, which is due to begin in September.

Avalon, the show’s production company, is now trying to line up additional funding in case the investor, who has not been named, withdraws.

Jon Thoday, the producer, said he was determined the tour would go ahead and criticised the “bullying techniques” of Christian Voice. “There has always been controversy in theatre but I have never known this kind of thing to actually have such an effect,” he said.

Derby Assembly Rooms, a council-run theatre, has already cancelled plans to stage the show and another venue in Croydon, south London, is considering its position. At least three other tour venues — the King’s Theatre in Glasgow, the Edinburgh Festival Theatre and His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen — remain supportive.

The show, which includes almost 300 swear words and songs such as Pregnant by a Transsexual, features God, Mary and Joseph and a nappy-wearing Jesus who admits to being “a bit gay”.

Thoday said he was disappointed that Maggie’s Centres had allowed itself to be “bullied” by Christian Voice, which last week said it was planning to target picket pregnant women and medical staff at abortion centres. “I was astonished and appalled when I heard the charity was not going to take the money,” he said. “This is an issue about freedom of speech.”

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