What passes as art in the West: Sancta Susanna, staged by Florentina Holzinger

Explicit lesbian sex scenes at the OPERA leave 18 audience members requiring medical treatment: Graphic show features naked nuns on roller skates and Christ having his loincloth whipped off

A radical feminist opera which includes explicit lesbian sex scenes, real blood and injuries, and naked roller-skating nuns, has left 18 audience members needing medical treatment in Austria.

Sancta Susanna by composer Paul Hindemith caused a scandal back in 1921, with outraged critics labelling the one-act opera, which tells the story of a suppressed nun discovering her sexuality, too blasphemous to be shown.

Its premiere at the Stuttgart Opera was cancelled, but more than 100 years later, it has now been staged in the city for the first time – with the shock factor amped up to dizzying new heights in what its creators call a ‘radical vision of the Holy Mass’.

Extreme performance artist Florentina Holzinger is behind the astonishing adaptation, which sees its all-female cast playing nuns who strip off their habits throughout the ‘sensual, poetic and wild’ show.

The most bizarre scenes include an actress with dwarfism dressed as the Pope being raised up into the air and spun around by a robotic arm, while another performs Eminem songs dressed as Jesus.

Sancta tells the story of a suppressed nun discovering her sexuality. At one point she prays while watching two lovers in the garden of her convent

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Sancta tells the story of a suppressed nun discovering her sexuality. At one point she prays while watching two lovers in the garden of her convent

In one scene, tattooed nude performers clamber over a table, drinking wine and singing, while another lifts a sword in the shape of a crucifix and pushes it down her throat

In one scene, tattooed nude performers clamber over a table, drinking wine and singing, while another lifts a sword in the shape of a crucifix and pushes it down her throat

A female Pope features in the performance, which critics say 'dissects' Catholicism

 A female Pope features in the performance, which critics say ‘dissects’ Catholicism

At one point an actress with dwarfism is dressed as the Pope is raised up into the air and spun around by a robotic arm

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At one point an actress with dwarfism is dressed as the Pope is raised up into the air and spun around by a robotic arm

Performers wearing nun's veils roller-skate in a half pipe during one part of the performance

Performers wearing nun’s veils roller-skate in a half pipe during one part of the performance

The shocking performance includes nudity and 'painful' stunts

‘Bach meets metal, the Weather Girls meet Rachmaninoff – and naked nuns meet roller skates,’ is how the Stuttgart State Opera website summarises the performance.

The ‘feminist mass’ sees the central character, a young nun called Susanna discover her sexuality, eventually pulling down Christ’s loincloth on the crucifix in the scandalous climax. At one point, the nude nun has sex with the icon.

The performance has an age restriction of 18, and incorporates sex acts, painful stunts, real and fake blood, piercings and the infliction of a wound on stage.

Naked performers hang out of bells as clappers, with only their bare bottoms or heads visible, while others scale a rock wall in nothing but harnesses and clamber up ropes.

In one scene, tattooed nude performers clamber over a table, drinking wine and singing, while another lifts a sword in the shape of a crucifix and pushes it down her throat.

In one very irreligious exchange, an actress playing Jesus spanks a semi-naked woman of the cloth.

And in a particularly disturbing scene, bodies are strung up on the wall to mimic Christ on the cross, before vats of fake blood start pouring down over them.

Most shockingly of all, one critic detailed the moment an injury is inflicted on one of the actors live on stage.

At one point an actress playing Jesus spanks a semi-naked woman of the cloth

At one point an actress playing Jesus spanks a semi-naked woman of the cloth

The provocative show is based on an opera which was decried as 'blasphemous' by critics

The provocative show is based on an opera which was decried as ‘blasphemous’ by critics

To illustrate the Eucharist, the body of Christ, a piece of skin is cut from a performer’s side, which is then grilled medium rare, according to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

On the show’s website, it warns attendees that the performance art is ‘not fake, but real.’

In the case of the sexual violence shown, the theatre issues explicit trigger warnings, saying some may be left in ‘discomfort’ or even ‘traumatised’ by the performance.

The almost three-hour show, which has no break, proved too much for some attending its Stuttgart showings.

An opera spokesman said those affected were in the rows near the stage, and would have known ‘what they are letting themselves in for.’

The opera company recommends the performance to viewers who are ‘daringly looking for new theatrical experiences.’

In the opera, a nun warns Susanna with an old story about the nun Beata, who had desired the Saviour on the cross and was walled up alive for it

In the opera, a nun warns Susanna with an old story about the nun Beata, who had desired the Saviour on the cross and was walled up alive for it

On the show's website, it warns attendees that the performance art is 'not fake, but real'

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On the show’s website, it warns attendees that the performance art is ‘not fake, but real’

The cast play nuns who strip off their habits throughout the 'sensual, poetic and wild' show

The cast play nuns who strip off their habits throughout the ‘sensual, poetic and wild’ show

‘Exploring boundaries and crossing them with pleasure has always been a central task of art,’ the opera quotes its artistic director Viktor Schoner as saying.

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7 replies
  1. Freddy
    Freddy says:

    The latest abominations (presented as “art”).
    Only the soundtrack is missing. Cheesehead
    André knows best how to play the ass fiddle.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjY-mV0mnqs
    https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Arschgeige

    The Strauss family had a Jew convert among
    their ancestors. https://archive.vn/wip/q6XjK

    https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/legacy-of-johann-strauss/johann-strauss-jr-as-jew/72B124C6B7A1E5B6AB86885A8E512461

    Wiener Blut,
    Wiener Blut!
    Eig’ner Saft,
    Voller Kraft,
    Voller Glut.

    Wiener Blut,
    Selt’nes Gut,
    Du erhebst,
    Du belebst
    Unser’n Mut!

    Wiener Blut,
    Wiener Blut!
    Was die Stadt
    Schönes hat,
    In dir ruht!

    Wiener Blut,
    Heiße Flut!
    Allerort
    Gilt das Wort:
    Wiener Blut!

    Translation:

    Viennese blood,
    Viennese blood!
    Special juice,
    Full of use,
    Full of fire.

    Viennese blood,
    Rare and good,
    You uplift,
    Give a gift
    To our mood!

    Viennese blood,
    Viennese blood!
    All that’s fair
    In our square,
    In you brood!

    Viennese blood,
    Burning flood!
    Everywhere
    People swear:
    Viennese blood!

    Risqué alternative:

    Wiener Blut!
    Wiener Blut!
    Steck ihn rein,
    Nicht zu tief,
    so ist gut!

    Viennese blood!
    Viennese blood!
    Stick it in,
    Not too deep,
    So it’s good!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiener_Blut_(operetta)

    Geschichten aus dem Wienerwald,
    Der eine macht den andern kalt.

    Im Graben liegt a Leich’ so fein,
    Der Bauer denkt: “Des muss so sein!”

    Der Jaga schießt sein’ Hund statt’s Reh,
    Der Wirt serviert an Schädeltee.

    Am Berg, da jodelt laut der Franz,
    Die Gäst’ im Tal kriagn Totenglanz.

    So geht’s halt zua im Wienerwald,
    Wo d’Kultur aufhört und da Wald anfangt.

    Translation:

    Tales from the Vienna Woods, they say,
    Where one puts the other away.

    A corpse in the ditch, a common sight,
    The farmer thinks, “Well, that seems right!”

    The hunter shoots his dog, not deer,
    The innkeeper serves a skull-brewed beer.

    On the mountain, Franz yodels with glee,
    While guests below turn pale, you see.

    That’s how it goes in Vienna’s green,
    Where culture ends and woods begin.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Vienna_Woods

  2. Tom
    Tom says:

    I can hardly wait till they stage a feminist interpretation of The Satanic Verses. I am praying they do. The post production critiques would be awesome.

  3. Joe
    Joe says:

    This is the exact same kind of perversion and blasphemy that was a defining element of Weimar Germany’s decadence. Of course, we all know what arose soon after to douse these evil fires. God willing, we will see a repeat of THAT history as well.

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