Pantomime fairy’s whiskers fall foul of anti-gay laws
RUSSIAN censors have banned a children’s pantomime in which a man with a moustache played a fairy, for an apparent violation of the country’s strict anti-lgbt laws.
Polina Kardymon, director of The Princess and the Ogre at the First Theatre in Novosibirsk, said that an informer had complained to the Russian ministry of culture that the play promoted homosexuality.
Last month, Russia’s parliament toughened anti-lgbt laws introduced in 2013 that banned any textbooks, art, plays and films that state censors said promoted homosexuality, even though it was decriminalised in Russia in 1993.
Under the new laws, people accused of promoting “non-traditional lifestyles” face similar punishments as those accused of stoking racial tension or advocating violence.
Ms Kardymon, 26, added: “They were outraged that in the children’s performance the fairy princess was played by a man! With a moustache!”
First Theatre cancelled the panto yesterday because of “technical problems”.
Analysts have said Russia’s anti-lgbt laws are designed to drive a wedge between the “polluted” west and the Kremlin’s vision of a pure Slavic culture.
Life in Russia has become increasingly dull since the Ukraine invasion. Cinemas have not been able to show Hollywood blockbusters and depression rates have risen by 50 per cent since a partial military mobilisation.