A production of “Cockroach” with the participation of Tolokonnikova was filmed in the Meyerhold Center

The Meyerhold Center, without explanation, withdrew from the show a hip-hop operetta based on Korney Chukovsky's "Cockroach", in which Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova performed. As Viktoria Narakhsa, director of the production, told the Dozhd TV channel on February 3, the Meyerhold Center refused to cooperate with her team.

The first performance of the operetta took place on 12 January. “The heroes of the performance are the classics of Russian literature, who help the characters resist the aggressive force that pulls them into darkness and ignorance,” reads the announcement of the event on the website of the Meyerhold Center.

The center's press secretary, Natalya Zaitseva, told Dozhd that it was expected that the premiere date would be set after the first screening, but this would not be done "for several reasons." The CIM representative declined to name these reasons. The artistic director of the Meyerhold Center, Viktor Ryzhakov, who had previously been present at the run-through of the performance and participated in its discussion, announced the decision through intermediaries and without explaining the reason.

According to Narakhsa, the decision to withdraw the production from the screening could have been made due to the political interpretation of the performance and under the threat of refusal to finance the CIM.

The ban on the production coincided with the February 3 premiere of a new Pussy Riot video dedicated to Prosecutor General Yuri Chaika, choreographed by Victoria Narakhsa.