In Moscow, a performance based on a play by Brodsky featuring actors who spoke out against the war has been cancelled.

The organisers have cancelled the premiere of the play “Democracy!” based on a play by Joseph Brodsky, which was due to be shown on 28 January in the car park of the Europolis shopping centre in Rostokino, Moscow, according to “Ostorozhno, novosti.”

The production, staged “in the form of an online conference,” was meant to feature actors not only from Russia but also from other countries—France, the United Kingdom, and Portugal. The cast included, among others, Yevgeny Tsyganov, Alexander Kuznetsov and Maria Shalaeva, who have spoken out openly against the war in Ukraine. The online broadcast of the play was to be hosted by Saint Petersburg’s Brodsky museum “Room and a Half.”

Audience members who bought tickets began receiving emails about the play’s cancellation “for technical reasons.” The Brodsky Museum’s Telegram channel announced the cancellation as early as 23 January.

On 16 January, the pro-government Telegram channel “Zakuliska” drew attention to the announcement of the production. In the post, particular focus was put on the Brodsky museum’s curator Marina Loshak, called “a liberal leftover responsible for the creation and nurturing of foreign agent Mongait.” The author also pointed out the participation of Tsyganov and Shalaeva in the production.

Instead of the play, the Europolis shopping centre will now host a poetry event, “In memory of the poet. Car Park,” featuring Tsyganov as well as Dmitry Vysotsky, Ilya Rubinstein, Dmitry Zakharov and other performers. The Brodsky Museum will hold a lecture instead of the online screening.