The Chelyabinsk State Dramatic Chamber Theater has postponed the staging of a production titled My Grandson Veniamin, a work drawn from the writings of Lyudmila Ulitskaya. The announcement came through TASS with a note from the Chelyabinsk regional Ministry of Culture confirming the decision.
Originally planned for filming in February and March, the project My Grandson Veniamin was replaced by two other works, Paradise and Eight Loving Women. In addition to canceling the production, the theater also formally ended its contract with the agency representing Ulitskaya’s interests.
Meanwhile, in Moscow, the Sovremennik Theatre has cancelled a production titled Let’s Dance…, another staging inspired by Ulitskaya’s work. The performances were scheduled to run from February 18 to March 22.
At the Perm Theater for Young Audiences, a separate Ulitskaya-inspired piece, Jewish Happiness, was halted. The show was replaced by Baykal Quadrille, and the theater director noted that the fate of the production would be decided once inspectors review Ulitskaya’s materials.
On February 1, TASS reported that the AST publishing house halted payments under all contracts with Ulitskaya after her statements suggesting that royalties from her books sold in Russia were redirected to Ukraine.
Earlier, a prominent figure in cinema complained about being expelled from university following a trip to the United States. This sequence of events highlights the tension between cultural institutions and authorial works amid evolving political and social contexts.