Yevgeny Kulesh (37) was crushed by a huge backdrop that was lowered onto the set at a scene change during a performance of "Sadko", a 19th century Russian opera written by composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. According to reports, Kulesh went in the wrong direction during the set change and was trapped under. He died before the ambulance arrived. 

The horrific incident was captured in a video. The footage that circulates on the Internet shows that the orchestra abruptly stopped playing as actors began screaming for help, pleading with staff to lift the prop. For a while, the spectators thought they were witnessing a part of the act before they realised that it was actually an accident. In the state of panic, the performers and onlookers then attempted to lift the prop and revive Kulesh, but were unsuccessful.

According to the local media, Kulesh had been a performer at the theatre since 2002. He is an esteemed actor and stalwart of the Bolshoi theatre, who had performed with the company for almost all of his adult life over the course of nearly two decades.

Moscow's Investigative Committee said it is probing the death of Kulesh. In a statement issued on Saturday (9 October) evening, the Bolshoi said, “The performance was immediately stopped, the audience was asked to leave the hall.”

Former Bolshoi theater actors have condemned the working conditions at the venue. Take, for example, Nikolai Tsiskardze, a former principal dancer at the theatre. He shared that the company's actors, dancers and workers suffer frequent injuries and near-misses as a result of the dangerous working conditions.

“Backstage is hell,” said Tsiskardze. “Dancers damage their legs when sets and staircases fall over. I have been screaming about the problems of the Bolshoi for 25 years. There is no order, no medicine, no ethics. We are all serfs! We must not blame Yevgeny or find a scapegoat,” he stated. 

It is not the first tragic incident to hit the world-renowned theatre. It is no stranger to tragedy.

Back in July 2013, Viktor Sedov, a senior violinist and a veteran of the opera house’s orchestra, died after falling into the orchestra pit. In the same year, a former dancer was sentenced to six years in a penal colony for orchestrating an acid attack on the theatre's artistic director which badly damaged his eyesight.