Petersburg Theater deprived Boris Akunin of the authorship of the play “1881”

The Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg declared that the writer and playwright Boris Akunin cannot be considered the author of the play “One Eight Eight One”, staged on his stage. Akunin himself reported this, attached a letter from the theater. Earlier, the theater canceled performances by Akunin.

In a letter signed by the theater’s deputy director for economics and finance, it is said that the text of the performance “consists of a compilation of historical materials, dialogues created on the basis of archival documents.” The creative team of the theater is named the author of the play. Thus, according to the document, “Akunin’s literary work is not used in the performance”, and the theater stops paying fees to the writer under the previously concluded contract. However, Akunin specified that he had not received payments before.

The premiere of the performance “One Eight Eight One” took place on the stage of the Alexandrinsky Theater in September 2022. This is a historical drama about the end of the reign of Alexander the Second and the accession to the throne of Alexander the Third in the Russian Empire in 1881.

Already in October, Akunin’s name as the author of the play disappeared from the posters and promotional materials of the production. The author of the performance is the director-producer Valery Fokin. In the middle of January of this year, the next showing of “One Eight Eight One” at the Alexandrinsky Theater was canceled without giving reasons.

• In December of last year, a criminal case was initiated against Boris Akunin on articles about fakes about the Russian army and public justification of terrorism. This was followed by the cancellation of performances based on Akunin’s works in several Russian theaters.
• The AST publishing house announced that it is suspending the distribution of Akunin’s books, as well as Dmytro Bykov’s. Their books were withdrawn from sale in the chain of stores “Chitai-horod – Bookvoed”. Another publishing house, Zakharov, which also published Akunin’s works, was searched.
• Boris Akunin (real name Hryhory Chkhartyshvili) is a popular Russian writer and translator. He repeatedly criticized the policy of Russian President Vladimir Putin, condemned the annexation of Crimea and the war in Ukraine. Lives in London since 2014. Entered by the Ministry of Justice of Russia in the list of foreign agents. Wanted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.