A Russian actor slashes his wrists on stage in front of a terrified audience in protest at the theater’s expulsion of its director for opposing the war in Ukraine.
- Russian actor Artur Shuvalov slashed his wrists in front of a live audience
- A theater director in Siberia’s Ulan-Ude has been fired for opposing the Ukraine war
A Russian actor has cut his wrists in front of a live audience to protest the theater’s firing of its manager for opposing Putin’s war in Ukraine.
During a curtain call with his fellow cast members in the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, Artur Shuvalov told the audience that the theater had been bullying him ever since for supporting the then director.
Saying that the theater is “annoying” him and withholding his wages, he then pulls a knife from his pocket before telling the stunned audience that the theater has also fired his actress wife.
He told the audience that the theater management was “responsible for my death” and then began slashing the knife into his right arm.
Video posted to Twitter shows the audience and his fellow cast gasping in terror as other members of the cast rush to his aid.
Actor Artur Shuvalov told the audience that the theater in Ulan-Ude, eastern Siberia, was bullying him for supporting the former director, Sergei Levitsky, for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In 2022, Sergei Levitsky, then the theater’s director, is fired for opposing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Criticizing the decision, Shuvalov said he and his wife have been “bullied” and “harassed” since then.
Prior to the production of The Knife, he said: ‘All year they tried to kick me off the stage, humiliate me, and deprive me of work and money.
Today they signed a statement, expelling my wife, Svetlana Polyanskaya.
He added: I don’t want to put up with it. But I have no more strength and no other choice.
I do not want to hear that artists are “representatives of the oldest professions.”
The audience was shocked when Shuvalov cut his wrist on stage
And I think our fans deserve smart guidance, not what our technical director says.
Please forgive me again. I’m tired. I do not have Any other choice. I want to say only one thing: Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Dyachenko (artistic director), Natalia Nikolaevna Svetozarova (stage director), these people are to blame for my death.
After its invasion of Ukraine, Russia introduced new censorship laws against “defaming Russia’s armed forces”.
These included not allowing the colors of Ukraine’s flag to be shown, describing the invasion as “war” or referring to the need for peace, among other rules.
As a result, a number of prominent figures in the world of art lost their jobs, including the director of the theater where Shuvalov performed.
The actor, who was said to be suffering from cancer, was taken to hospital, but was said to be in stable condition.