An Adelaide Festival actor charged with committing an indecent act on his international flight to Australia has been pulled from the production, Dogs of Europe.
Aleh Sidorchyk, 61, has been charged with committing an act of indecency on another person while on board an aircraft.
The Belarusian actor is accused of committing the crime while on a Malaysia Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Adelaide on Sunday where he was travelling to perform for the Adelaide Festival.
The Adelaide Magistrates Court heard yesterday that the alleged victim had provided a statement and Mr Sidorchyk was likely to plead guilty to the crime.
His lawyer told the court Mr Sidorchyk was due to leave Australia on Tuesday, March 7, the day after the production ended and asked for the matter to be dealt with quickly.
The case will return to court on Monday, the same day that the company is scheduled to perform two shows.
"I'm assuming the matter's going to resolve by way of a plea?" Magistrate Ben Sale asked.
"Yes," his lawyer replied.
"So we can really just deal with submissions and sentence then," Magistrate Sale said.
Mr Sidorchyk was released on bail to attend his performances and stay at a CBD hotel.
But in a statement on Tuesday, Adelaide Festival chief executive Kath Mainland said Mr Sidorchyk had been replaced in the Belarus Free Theatre Company production.
"Aleh Sidorchyk will no longer be appearing in Dogs of Europe and will be replaced by Ilya Yasinski and Igor Shugaleev," she said.
"The production will open on Thursday night and continue its run until Monday 6 March, as planned."
As part of his bail agreement, Mr Sidorchyk has been forced to surrender his passport with Magistrate Sale saying he did not want the accused "to hop on a plane".
He has also been banned from leaving South Australia and must report to police.
There was no Russian interpreter available for the court hearing.
