LONDON (Reuters), – The Bolshoi Theatre of Russia abruptly cancelled a week’s worth of performances by director who had spoken out against war in Ukraine.

Theatre officials had no other reason to drop Timofey Kulabin’s opera, “Don Pasquale”, and Kirill Serebrennikov’s ballet, “Nureyev”

Kuliabin took to his Instagram account in solidarity with Ukraine. He also mocked Russia’s portrayal of the events there. He posted a mocked up version of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace” cover, replacing the first line with “Special Operation”, the Kremlin term for the invasion.

France 24 interviewed Serebrennikov last month, and he said that Russia was the one who started the conflict. He also admitted that it broke his heart.

“It is war, it kills people, it’s probably the most terrible thing that could happen to civilisation or mankind.” He said, “It’s a humanitarian disaster, it’s rivers and blood.”

Both directors currently reside outside Russia.

The Bolshoi received hundreds of online criticisms after replacing the shows with “The Barber of Seville” and “Spartacus,” two classics of its repertoire. Many ticketholders demanded the reasons for this change, but they were unsuccessful.

What disrespect for the artists and spectators! Valeria wrote one article on Bolshoi Telegram.

Serebrennikov’s controversial “Nureyev” production, which premiered at Bolshoi in 2017, was canceled. This caused a lot of outrage. Rudolf Nureyev’s story, a ballet dancer who defected to Europe in 1961, featured a sweet scene with his gay lover. This was part of the Kremlin testing its tolerance for homosexual propaganda.