Two long-awaited performances at Moscow’s historic Bolshoi Theatre were cancelled for no apparent reason.
The legendary Bolshoi Theatre in Russia has abruptly cancelled a series of performances; two directors who have both spoken out against the crisis in Ukraine.
The theatre cited no official justification for cancelling Timofey Kuliabin’s Don Pasquale opera and Kirill Serebrennikov’s Nureyev dance.
Kuliabin has used his Instagram account to voice his support for Ukraine and mock Russia’s narrative of its actions in the country; which lacked any mention of conflict. In one tweet, he mocked up the cover of Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace; replacing the first word of the title with “Special Operation”; the euphemism used by the Kremlin to explain the annexation of Crimea.
In a recent interview with France 24, Serebrennikov said that “it’s fairly evident that Russia launched the war,” and that it broke his heart.
