Eighteen theatergoers were left nauseous after watching a racy Opera show in Germany.
The Staatsoper Stuttgart is hosting Sancta Susanna, which tells the story of a suppressed nun discovering her sexuality.
The show, which was adapted by performance artist Florentina Holzinger, debuted on October 5 and is due to run until November 3.
The one-act performance, which lasts almost three hours and has no breaks, features graphic scenes including unsimulated sexual intercourse, real injuries, painful stunts, violence, and live piercing, according to The Guardian.
The Mirror reported that the adaptation shows the all-female cast playing naked nuns who are rollerskating on a movable half-pipe at the center of the stage.
It's also claimed that scenes grow increasingly strange as an actress with dwarfism dressed as the Pope is raised into the air and spun around by a robotic arm, while another performs Eminem songs dressed as Jesus.
In addition to this, theatergoers have said Susanna, a young nun, is seen pulling down Jesus' loincloth on the crucifix in the scandalous climax. At one point, she even has sex with him.
The shocking scenes left many theatergoers upset, with 18 reportedly suffering from nausea and needing medical assistance over the first two performances. In three cases, a doctor even had to be called.
“On Saturday we had eight and on Sunday we had 10 people who had to be looked after by our visitor service,” the opera’s spokesperson, Sebastian Ebling, said, cited by The Guardian.
The original opera show premiered in 1921 and was composed by Paul Hindemith.
It was initially canceled due to anger over its scandalous content, with critics deeming it too blasphemous. Now, more than 100 years later, an adapted version is being performed in Germany for the first time.
The show’s team made it clear that they are not affected by the negative outrage as they've already issued a strong warning to the audience to read the performance's trigger warnings before attending.
“We recommend that all audience members once again very carefully read the warnings so they know what to expect," Ebling told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper, per The Guardian.
“If you have questions, speak to the visitor service,” Ebling added. “And when in doubt during the performance, it might help to avert your gaze.”
Nevertheless, the opera show is clearly very popular with the crowd as all five remaining shows at the Stuttgart State Opera, as well as two performances at Berlin’s Volksbühne in November, are sold out.
The New York Post reported that a version of Sancta Susanna will be performed in Los Angeles later this month.
