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New theater scandal breaks out in Siberia over "Orthodox" hedgehog story

The Russian Culture Ministry has recommended that the Globus theater should amend its stage version of The Songs about the Motherland play and remove the hedgehog story

A scene from the Songs about the Motherland play Novosibirsk youth Globus Academy theater

A scene from the Songs about the Motherland play

© Novosibirsk youth Globus Academy theater

NOVOSIBIRSK, March 30. /TASS/. A new theater scandal is looming ahead in Novosibirsk following the notorious erotic opera about Jesus Christ earlier staged at the Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theater; this time it is The Globe (Globus) theater which released a new stage version of a story about an "Orthodox hedgehog".

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Kremlin against censorship in creative arts, but calls for appropriate productions

The Russian Culture Ministry has recommended that the Globus theater should amend its stage version of The Songs about the Motherland play and remove the hedgehog story, which aroused protests from Orthodox believers, from the scenario altogether.

"The Hedgehog is a theater presentation of a general belief that all of us are the Lord's creations irrespective of a religion one might profess, and that any attempt to change one another by force might have a fatal end," stage director Dmitry Yegorov told TASS. "I believe we have created a sincere story not devoid of sense," Yegorov said.

He is away from Siberia at present and couldn’t' say why the "Hedgehog" was recommended not to be released. "Neither religious symbols or rites, nor the image of Jesus Crist have been used in the play. No signs of anything which might have been banned," he said.

Besides, The Songs about the Motherland is a private project not financed by the state. Nevertheless, on April 1 the play will run without the hedgehog story because the tickets have already been sold. The future of the play in Novosibirsk is uncertain, Yegorov said.

On Sunday, the Russian Culture Ministry fired the director of the Novosibirsk opera and ballet theater Boris Mezdrich over non-compliance with the theater's founder's (culture ministry) instructions. A source from the Novosibirsk regional government told TASS that Mezdrich was dismissed as a result of a scandal over modern stage production of Wagner’s Tannhaus opera.

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