Writer Nina Katerly was approached by her granddaughter, theater director Zhenya Berkovich, regarding her play Finist the Bright Falcon, according to Fontanka, which cited Caterly herself.
The 88-year-old author explained that investigators from the Russian Investigative Committee visited him on May 4, saying they wished to search his home in connection with a Moscow performance staged by his grandson. His grandson faced charges of justifying terrorism. Katerly expressed confusion about how the search at his home could relate to the play in Moscow, noting that his grandson lives there and does not visit often. She added that Berkovich had last visited her about two weeks earlier. (Fontanka)
Meanwhile, the Main Investigation Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia in St. Petersburg reportedly staged such an inquiry there as well. (Fontanka)
Berkovich’s production, adapted from Svetlana Petriychuk’s Finist the Bright Falcon, portrays women who decide to marry radical Islamists in absentia and travel to their betrothed in Syria. The narrative choice has drawn attention for its provocative treatment of intimate decisions amid broader political extremism, prompting discussions about the boundaries between art and real-world consequences. (Fontanka)
Earlier reports noted that the Alexandrinsky Theater canceled a screening of Cyrano de Bergerac after complaints of defamation, a development that added to the broader controversy surrounding recent stage productions and how they are perceived by audiences and authorities alike. (Fontanka)