Naked nuns on skates and BDSM on stage: Holzinger’s last work “makes the audience faint”

Florentina Holzinger, the Austrian choreographer and performance artist, the enfant terrible of contemporary theatre and dance in German-speaking countries, is renowned worldwide for her provocative and boundary-pushing work, which grafts onto the form of classical dance elements and structures of the circus, pop culture, horror films, body art, stunt techniques, and sideshow practices. 

Sancta, her latest project and first foray into opera, has sparked considerable debate following its recent staging at the Stuttgart State Opera. The work is a re-imagination of the 1922 expressionist opera Sancta Susanna by Paul Hindemith, which had its own history of controversy for its allegedly blasphemous content, as it explores the story of a young nun consumed by repressed sexual desire and lust, who spirals into madness and ultimately begs to be sealed alive behind a wall, seeking penance for her transgressions.

The choreographer’s production features nonbinary performers, live piercing, half-nude nuns on roller skates, BDSM themes, bodies hanging upside inside bells as human clappers, other nuns engaging in lesbian sex acts and copious amounts of fake and real blood. Some of the more visceral scenes, reports the Guardian, seem to have caused physical reactions from the audience, with 18 theatregoers reportedly requiring medical attention for nausea. However, the Stuttgart State Opera has resized the severity of the incidents, noting that some individuals had already sought medical help before the show began.

Despite the outrage expressed by right-wing media outlets, which has ignited conversations around art, censorship, and the limits of provocation in contemporary performance, Holzinger emphasised that the show is for those willing to engage with its themes, namely, to explore connections between conservative institutions and subcultures like BDSM, urging anyone uncomfortable with depictions of violence or religious critique to avoid attending.

Opening image: Caroline Melzer (Susanna), Jasko Fide, Netti Nüganen. Photo by Matthias Baus.