The governor of the Far Eastern Kamchatka Territory has ordered an investigation into the alleged censorship of a recent satirical production of Cinderella.
Media reports claimed that the governor's deputy tried to ban the performance for allegedly poking fun at regional and federal officials.
"All media reports will be thoroughly analyzed," the regional government's press service said, adding that all results would be made public.
The region's former governor Mikhail Mashkovtsev wrote in his blog that a "lady in power" was "sent into hysterics" by a scene in which the king sets the clock one hour back to keep Cinderella at the ball. The scene was a clear reference to an unpopular recent decision to set local time one hour closer to Moscow.
More than 3,000 people gathered in the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky on December 11 to protest the time zone alteration, complaining that it would cause the whole region to plunge into darkness at around 3:00 p.m. in winter.
The next performance of the controversial play is scheduled for Tuesday evening. Sources from the Kamchatka Theatre of Drama and Comedy have said that no changes will be introduced to the plot and that the play will be staged with all of the same jokes.
PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, January 13 (RIA Novosti)
