Lesbian nuns, real blood and a short Popess – that’s how disturbing the “Sancta” opera is

The new queer theater spectacle by director Florentina Holzinger lasts almost three hours. The opera “Sancta Susanna” from 1922 by the composer Paul Hindemith quickly became a shock show: Naked nuns, lesbian sex on a cross, a short Pope, as well as sexual acts and violence – that’s what you hear in the film NDR-Radio Kultur – depicting the sexual liberation of a nun.

While the original play dealt with the heterosexual desires of a nun, in the new production it is women to whom the nun feels attracted. Viewers must understand this through a barrage of disturbing images. A female Jesus spanks the bottom of a nun who is naked, two other naked women rub their genitals together, real blood covers the mostly naked bodies of the actresses.

Not every viewer seems to have enjoyed this performance. According to reports, at a performance last weekend at the Stuttgart State Opera, the Stuttgarter Zeitung Numerous guests complained of nausea afterwards, and the emergency doctor even had to be called for several spectators.

The opera “Sancta” is open to audiences aged 18 and over and disturbed viewers in Stuttgart, particularly with its drastic depictions of sexuality and injuries. A total of eighteen spectators had to be looked after by visitor service at the first two performances.

The blasphemous depictions were also shocking for some: the statue of Jesus is removed from a cross and replaced by two women’s bodies wrapped around each other. Naked nuns in hoods roller-skate in a halfpipe or hang naked on a climbing wall, covered in blood and in a cross pose.

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As the State Opera in Stuttgart reports, the piece deals with the topics of sexuality, spirituality and criticism of religion. Viewers were warned that the explicit depictions of sexual violence could lead to retraumatization. The opera spokesman Sebastian Ebling stated that there were repeated nausea and fainting among the audience.

The opera’s website recommended the performance only to audiences who are “daringly seeking new theatrical experiences.” Despite the incidents, nothing will be changed about the five further performances in Stuttgart. Again SWR reports, a female Jesus appears: “She is much more relaxed and much more fun than the male suffering image,” says she SWR-Reporter. A woman of short stature portrayed a pope leading a Catholic mass.

A NDR-Report shows excerpts from the premiere of the piece, which took place in Schwerin in the spring. There were no attacks of nausea at that time. Instead, the audience, mostly over 50 years old, enthusiastically applauded the actresses, who bowed completely naked at the end. The director of the Mecklenburg State Theater excitedly explains to the camera that he was particularly impressed by the inclusive character of the piece. “The fact that everyone is accepted together as we are and can do something great, that’s what theater is for, that’s what we experienced on stage today,” he grins.

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