PRESSURE from radical Christians has caused 11 regional theatres to pull out of showing Jerry Springer — The Opera, its producers said yesterday.

A campaign by Christian Voice to prevent the “blasphemous” musical from being shown has forced organisers to postpone a national tour after nearly a third of theatres withdrew. Avalon, the production company, has postponed the 25-week tour, down from 36 weeks, until after the Christmas period.

Jon Thoday, head of Avalon, said that theatres began to withdraw when Maggie’s Centres, a cancer charity, turned down a donation from a charity performance of the musical after it was lobbied by Christian Voice. “There were 11 venues which either got cold feet because of Christian Voice or said that they couldn’t get behind the show,” he said. “But other theatres, including Plymouth, our starting venue, and Ambassador Theatre Group, have been very supportive.”

Regional theatres run by local councils, “such as the De Montfort Hall in Leicester and the Assembly Rooms in Derby”, have been especially susceptible to negative publicity, he said. “One theatre said that the issue has polarised the council. The people who wanted to put it on originally now really want to do it, but the people with concerns are now strongly against it.”

Richard Haswell, manager of De Montfort Hall, said that Leicester City Council had encouraged him to withdraw from a Christmas tour date: “When the news emerged that we were in discussions about bringing the show here, there was quite a lot of controversy. After discussions with our local council, we decided that it would be better not to put it on adjacent to Christmas.”

Peter Ireson, managing director of the Assembly Rooms, said that he was hoping to put on the show, despite withdrawing from its original tour date. He had received several abusive letters, but also offerings of support. “Ideally, you don’t want to upset people who are potentially your customers, but we wouldn’t let a small minority of people frighten us.”

Christian Voice, a small lobby group run by Stephen Green, has announced that it will target theatres aggressively. “The producers think there will be a UK tour, but we will see how it pans out,” he said. “We will be picketing theatres.” The group held demonstrations outside the musical’s London venue before its scheduled closure on February 19. It also conducted an e-mail campaign over a BBC broadcast of the show that led to a record 50,000 complaints.

The most controversial part of the show portrays Jesus Christ wearing a nappy and admitting that he is “a bit gay”.

The Evangelical Alliance, the evangelical umbrella group, described it as “grossly distorting the Christian story”.

Mr Thoday said that he wanted to continue because he believed in freedom of expression: “It has become a crusade now. Perhaps that is the wrong word: it is more of a holy war.”

The BBC’s role in the controversy was highlighted yesterday as an evangelical group lodged a claim for judicial review. The Christian Institute, a Newcastle-based group, alleges that BBC Two’s decision to broadcast the show in January “involved the systematic denigration of Jesus Christ and the central tenets of the Christian faith”. The BBC declined to comment.

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