A group of Russian Orthodox activists threw a pig's head at Moscow's prestigious Chekhov Moscow Art Theater on Wednesday in protest of a staging of Oscar Wilde's comedy "An Ideal Husband," which deals with issues of promiscuity and adultery in contemporary Moscow.
The group, which operates under the name God's Will, was led by activist Dmitry Enteo, who is known for his sometimes violent stunts and who protested the same play by interrupting a performance of it in 2013. Enteo posted photos of Wednesday's incident on his VKontakte social network page.
The name of the theater's eminent director, Oleg Tabakov, was scrawled on the pig's head in black lettering.
In late 2013, Enteo and a female accomplice disrupted a performance of "An Ideal Husband" directed by Konstantin Bogomolov by shouting that the play mocked their faith. Many audience members reportedly thought it was part of the show, which features a homosexual priest apparently worshipping a naked woman.
Recently in Novosibirsk a rendition of the Wagner opera "Tannhäuser" was removed from a state theater's repertoire and the theater director was fired after complaints by the regional head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Tikhon.
Offending the sentiments of religious believers was made a criminal offense in Russia in 2013 following Pussy Riot's "punk prayer" protest in a Moscow cathedral the year before.