New Delhi: A performance at Germany’s Stuttgart Opera has triggered a major controversy.
Eighteen attendees suffered from nausea after watching ‘Sancta’, allegedly a sexually violent opera involving nudity, blood and explicit sexual acts.
The live performance included live piercing, unsimulated sexual intercourse, and a mix of fake and real blood.
The provocative show, helmed by Austrian choreographer Florentina Holzinger, was performed twice during a weekend.
“On Saturday we had eight and on Sunday we had ten people who had to be looked after by our visitor service,” informed Sebastian Ebling, a spokesperson for the opera.
So much so that medical professionals had to be called in to provide treatment thrice.
The story of the original opera revolves around a young nun whose arousal leads her to commit an act of sacrilege.
Scheduled to premiere in Stuttgart in 1921, it faced protests, delaying the debut by a year.
The adaptation, by Holzinger, replaced the original score with naked nuns roller-skating on a movable half-pipe and featured shocking imagery, including a “wall of crucified naked bodies” and a “lesbian priest conducting mass.”
Salzburg and Innsbruck bishops condemned the play as a “disrespectful caricature of the holy mass” after Sancta was performed in Vienna.
Holzinger tried to play down the controversy, saying that her work was intended to “explore the relationship between conservative institutions and kink communities,” — not to mock the church.
Following the cases of nausea among the audience, the opera advised interested viewers to read the performance warnings carefully — such as “incense, loud noises, explicit sexual acts, and depictions of sexual violence.”
The opera said that if anyone has questions, “speak to the visitor service.”
“When in doubt during the performance, it might help to avert your gaze,” the opera instructed.
The five remaining performances at Stuttgart, as well as two shows at Berlin in November have sold out.
