Sancta - Germany desecrating Christianity with gory opera

Despite an 18+ age rating and bold warnings, a recent revealing and gory opera performance in Stuttgart has left its mark on more squeamish visitors.

Around the first two performances of Florentina Holzinger's "Sancta", the visitor service took care of a total of 18 people, some of whom had complained of nausea, said Sebastian Ebling, spokesman for the State Opera. In three cases, a doctor had to be called in.

Holzinger has been causing a stir in the theater world for years with her works, in which she radically and revealingly stages female bodies, incorporates painful stunts and does not shy away from trash. In "Sancta", she brings lesbian love scenes to the stage with provocative clarity, ridicules Christian rituals and denounces the sexual oppression of women.