From Komsomolskaya Pravda:
In St. Petersburg, the “sinful” performance “Lolita” has been cancelled
Money spent on tickets will be returned, the audience have been promised.
In St. Petersburg, the one-man show “Lolita”, based on the Vladimir Nabokov novel, has been cancelled.
“We are required to inform you of the cancellation of the show “Lolita” which was due to be shown on the 21st of October, for reasons beyond our control”, said the press office of the Erarta museum, where the show was planned.
It is reported that the decision to cancel was taken by the actor Leonid Mozgovoy and the show’s organisers.
“We were ready to put on the show and to guarantee the maximum safety for our visitors during its performance,” said the museum staff.
Note that not long ago, a letter was distributed in St. Petersburg demanding the cancellation of the show. The authors of the note, according to the paper were Cossacks and teachers of primary school children.
They accused the actor Leonid Mozgovoy, for example, of giving a positive impression of Hitler in a film by a “director, who is known for sodomist propaganda”. The insults were clearly addressed to the famous director Alexander Sokurov.
“The show, just like the publication of the book, and the advertising of such vile writings is a sin”, write the authors of the message. “We beg you to reconsider, and not to put on the provocative scenes, it simply cannot be, it is necessary, and we recommend that you do not work any more with those who organise such shows in your museum.”
Comments from Komsomolskaya Pravda:
Гм…:
Did Milonov send it?
555:
Dear moral guardians. Artistic works can be distinguished from propaganda leaflets in that readers (or viewers) get their own emotional reaction to the events described. There could be books about the life of prisoners – that doesn’t mean that they are a call to crime. It’s just a story about the human soul – including, sadly, the lowest of its troughs, helplessness before our animal instincts. It’s not the same thing as relishing vice and sin.
Гость №1656:
Really, “Lolita” is a very complex work. And there are, of course, some limitations on how we can “interpret” Nabokov’s works. But, dear Petersburgers, it’s not something for which the Cossacks have the right to forbid the spectacle’s performance. Actually it’s a huge disgrace.
For the for the orphaned and the needy, I will remind you that a work of art about love is different from a pornographic film, and Nabokov’s novel is a long way from the singing the praises of paedophilia. In fact, it is more of a tragedy.
Иван Петров:
Personally, I’m not bothered about the show (it was enough to read it once), but the epidemic of punitive banning in the country, and the growth of idiocy and obscurantism on the back of a cult of personality is amazing!
Гость №3111:
If you take any show, literally any, or any book, or film, you’ll always find people who love it, people who are against it, and they’ll all have their reasons. So we need to ban art on the whole altogether. The only thing that’s surprising is why the opinions of some should bother others, it’s really easy – if you don’t want to, then don’t go.
Лена СПб:
It’s most likely that tourists will stop coming to St. Petersburg. Madonna’s being tried, Lolita’s being cancelled. I don’t have any more literary words in my vocabulary.
[Madonna is in legal trouble in Russia as a result of a concert in which she is alleged to have promoted homosexuality]
Гость №741:
When an adult man fucks a child, it’s an abomination, tweet it while it still hasn’t happened to your children.
Диана Лунит:
Well, there’s the story of Solomon and Shulamite in the Bible. He was an old man, and she was a young girl.
Гостья:
Insanity is getting worse – first in line, those in power.
Гость №419:
Yeah, it’s time to start burning books in the squares and arrange marches with torches down Nevsky
Христина:
Quite right, this show is about paedophiles and promotes paedophilia. There’s no place for this in an Orthodox country, let them show it in the West and in America.
Православный казак: [Note: the username of this commenter translates as “Orthodox Cossack”]
They’re paedophiles! They’re gay! All of them in the fire! In the fire! In the fire! Demons! Demons! Satan! In the fire!… Nabokov, Bulgakov, Zoschenko, Pasternak… All of them! All of them!