March 19, 2023

20 Years for Rehearsing a Play?


20 Years for Rehearsing a Play?
Grigory Beresnev. Screenshot from Olga Savina-Zulaeva's short doc film, "Grigory Beresnev's Process." Youtube Screen Capture

Grigory Beresnev, 29, faces up to 20 years in prison for rehearsing a play.

A local actor and a teacher and directory at the Children's Theater in Tolyatti, Beresnev was taken by British playwright Rebecca Prichard's pathbreaking, award-winning 1998 play, Yard Girl, which takes a hard, in-your-face look at the reality of violence against young women and how little attention society pays to this.

After cutting from the play its strong language and references to the characters' sexual experiences, Beresnev began working with students to stage the play. Later, when those students' parents asked their kids what play they were staging, and then they looked it up, they were shocked – because they looked at the unedited play.

The upshot is that nine charges were filed against Beresnev for "knowing that the work was material of a pornographic character, he, with the assistance of underage minors, undertook actions that acquainted his students with the work. He also undertook the distribution, demonstration, and advertisement of material of a pornographic nature depicting minors."

Further, according to investigators, he “did all this with a sexual motive because of his attraction or causing excitement in minors.”

But here's the rub (or several of them).

An adaptation of Prichard's play ("Разбивая стекло") has been staged in Russia since 2000, including in Tolyatti.

The so-called expert called in to provide evidence that let to Beresnev's charges is nothing of the sort. His method of determining "pornographic content" amounts, apparently, to simply counting up the number of words in a work, and seeing what percent those words comprise of the entire work.

Beresnev is currently under house arrest, awaiting the first hearing in his trial, which will take place March 27, which also happens to be International Day of Theater. There has been support for Beresnov raised internationally, including statements from Prichard and the Western theatrical community. Playwright and linguist Olga Savina-Zulayeva has also started a Telegram channel in support of Beresnev, and has created a short documentary film about his case (embedded below).

Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
A Taste of Russia

A Taste of Russia

The definitive modern cookbook on Russian cuisine has been totally updated and redesigned in a 30th Anniversary Edition. Layering superbly researched recipes with informative essays on the dishes' rich historical and cultural context, A Taste of Russia includes over 200 recipes on everything from borshch to blini, from Salmon Coulibiac to Beef Stew with Rum, from Marinated Mushrooms to Walnut-honey Filled Pies. A Taste of Russia shows off the best that Russian cooking has to offer. Full of great quotes from Russian literature about Russian food and designed in a convenient wide format that stays open during use.
Driving Down Russia's Spine

Driving Down Russia's Spine

The story of the epic Spine of Russia trip, intertwining fascinating subject profiles with digressions into historical and cultural themes relevant to understanding modern Russia. 
Murder and the Muse

Murder and the Muse

KGB Chief Andropov has tapped Matyushkin to solve a brazen jewel heist from Picasso’s wife at the posh Metropole Hotel. But when the case bleeds over into murder, machinations, and international intrigue, not everyone is eager to see where the clues might lead.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

Faith & Humor: Notes from Muscovy

A book that dares to explore the humanity of priests and pilgrims, saints and sinners, Faith & Humor has been both a runaway bestseller in Russia and the focus of heated controversy – as often happens when a thoughtful writer takes on sacred cows. The stories, aphorisms, anecdotes, dialogues and adventures in this volume comprise an encyclopedia of modern Russian Orthodoxy, and thereby of Russian life.
Moscow and Muscovites

Moscow and Muscovites

Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.
At the Circus (bilingual)

At the Circus (bilingual)

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955