The Law was Broken Last Night, and We Didn't Even Know It

With a name like Theater in Russia, it should come as no surprise that we've been watching a lot of theatrical productions this January.  But if you needed a reminder, we are.  The productions that we've seen so far have been quite impressive.  Some have been whimsical, some fantastical, and some quite dark.  But to date, none of them could have been described as illegal.  Until last night.

We went to the infamous Theater Doc, known for its impressive and endless opposition to the Russian government.  As a consequence of this behavior, it must stay always on its toes.  It has also been moved around quite a lot, and the current theater it had in a residential building in Moscow can best be described as a hole in the wall.  Despite this, the stage is actually quite nice and customizable, with exposed brick walls and tiered seating against three walls.

The actors were not actually affiliated with Theater Doc, other than using the theater's space.  They were students from one of the many actors' training programs in the city, and they were performing scenes from different Maksym Kurochkin plays.  The illegality of the evening arose from a particular scene from the play: "Vodka, Fucking, and Television".  To summarize, the scene began with three people on stage, tied up in chairs, who represented each of the three title characters, with a fourth being an author attempting to decide which to give up.  The scene was hilarious, even to those of us that don't speak Russian, and our group didn't give the scene a second thought after it was over.  After the show, we all learned from Marc that the scene was filled to the brim with curses of all flavors, and thanks to recent legislation, swearing onstage has been banned, making the performance definitively illegal.  Considering that this was at an already controversial theater, the students we saw last night are quite brave.  Or stupid.

However fear not, we were never in danger.  The consequences are exclusively reserved for the actors daring to swear onstage, and include, but are not limited to, fines and imprisonment.  In summary, be careful about cursing when the government of your country threatens to wash out your mouth with soap.