By Florentina Holzinger

A production by Florentina Holzinger/Spirit, neon lobster, Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater, Staatsoper Stuttgart in co-production with Wiener Festwochen | Freie Republik Wien, Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin with Komische Oper Berlin as well as Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Julidans, Theater Rotterdam
Premiere: 30.5.2024 (Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater)

Florentina Holzinger takes Paul Hindemith’s short opera “Sancta Susanna” about the sexual awakening experience of a nun as the point of departure for a powerful interpretation of a holy Mass, where the performers fathom the limits of their physical forms of expression. 

“SANCTA”, Florentina Holzinger’s first opera performance addresses the patriarchal structures of the church. After the soloists and choir have performed Hindemith’s expressive opera on stage dressed in nun costumes, the libidinous counter design of a religious service unfolds: The Sistine Chapel is turned into a bouldering wall, god becomes a robot and the opera becomes a rock musical. On their search for transcendence, body artists distort the religious topoi of crucifixion wounds, penetration, cannibalism and transformation while show magicians present their interpretation of biblical miracles. Instead of disciplining and sexual chastisement, they worship self-empowerment and sensual lust, instead of condemning Susanna as a sinner, they show her solidarity. The Holy Mass becomes a spectacle and a real space of possibility where religious conventions are challenged in the attempt of renewing them at the same time. 

Statement of the Jury

Isn’t there a little bit of sorcery in every mass? Don’t they turn bread into flesh, wine into blood? Florentina Holzinger uses Paul Hindemith’s short opera “Sancta Susanna” about a nun’s experience of sexual awakening as the launching pad for her captivating version of a Catholic service. The show’s basic contrast is set forth right at the start, with two fisting women between a cross and a bouldering wall: In the opera, it is the church’s insignia of sacrifice, guilt and authority, in Holzinger’s physical reading, it is uninhibited sex, transgression and shamelessness. Her queer-feminist company overwrites sacred images and interprets biblical scenes as visceral borderline experiences. While half-naked nuns skate a halfpipe, there is a rotating female pope, a magician performs miracles and a vagrant called Jesus accosts the audience. The transubstantiation is also executed quite literally as a variety of body suspension. But ultimately, this orgy of intercourse wants to be more than kink and provocation: It holds out its hands to the audience with the message “Don’t dream it, be it!”

To juror Eva Behrendt’s video statement on “SANCTA” (in German)

Programme Booklet (pdf, 1.8 MB)

Artistic Team

Florentina Holzinger – Direction and Choreography
Marit Strindlund – Musical Director
Nikola Knežević – Stage and Costume Design
Max Kraußmüller, Anne Meeussen – Lighting Design
Maja Čule – Video Design
Aki Schmid – Choir Director
Felix Ritter, Fernando Belfiore, Judith Lebiez, Michele Rizzo, Miron Hakenbeck, Philipp Amelungsen, Renée Copraij, Sara Ostertag – Dramaturgy

Johanna Doderer – Composition and Arrangement 
Born in Flamez – Composition and Supervision Stage Music
Stefan Schneider – Composition and Sound Design
Nadine Neven Raihani – Composition and Production
Christopher Kandelin, Gibrana Cervantes, Josephinex Ashley Hansis, Karl-Johann Ankarblom, Odette T. Waller, otay:onii – Additional Composition and Arrangement

Cast

Andrea Baker, Annina Machaz, Blathin Eckhardt, Born in Flamez, Cornelia Zink, Emma Rothmann, Fibi Eyewalker, Fleshpiece, Florentina Holzinger, Gibrana Cervantes, Jasko Fide, Laura London, Luz De Luna Duran, Mery Muñoz, Netti Nüganen, otay:onii, Paige A. Flash, Renée Copraij, Saioa Alvarez Ruiz, Sara Lancerio, Sophie Duncan, Veronica Thompson, Xana Novais
Female Opera Choir Singers of Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater
Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin

complete cast of “SANCTA”