A stage version of Lolita in Russia’s second largest city has been canceled over concerns it could provoke public disorder, producer and stage director Leonid Mozgovoi said on Monday.
The performance, based on a controversial novel by Vladimir Nabokov and billed for Sunday, was canceled following a collective letter from a number of residents protesting the show and alleging it falls under the effects of the pedophilia propaganda law.
They threatened to picket and obstruct the show if it went ahead.
“I didn’t want any disorder,” Mozgovoi said, adding that he was sorry he had to do it and that the production had nothing to do with pedophilia.
“We aren’t in the business of producing immoral things: I have three children and three grandchildren,” he said.
The law, which penalizes “the propaganda of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors,” came into force in St. Petersburg on March 17. It provides for fines of up to about $16,000 for individuals and $160,000 for organizations found guilty.
