A retelling of Richard Wagner's opera 'Tannhäuser' set in Nazi Germany was cancelled on opening night after ten audience members in a Dusseldorf theater were taken to hospital in apparent shock over disturbing scenes showing Jews dying in gas chambers.
Wagner's original opera takes place on the mythical mountain
Venusberg, but the revamped production at the Rheinoper theater is
set during the Holocaust. In it, one of the scenes reportedly
showed a family ordered to strip naked and shave their heads before
being slaughtered by the Nazis.
Another scene that provoked a wave of boos from the audience in
Duesseldorf drew an allusion to the notorious Nazi gas chambers,
with naked figures in glass cubes covered in artificial fog.
A Deutsche Oper am Rhein staff member said over 10 theatergoers
asked for medical help after the performance, which many of them
later described as shocking. Stage director Burkhard Kosminki has
refused to tone down the performance, leading the opera house to
announce it will not continue to run the production in its current
form.
"It was with great astonishment that we noted that some scenes,
in particular very realistic execution scenes, caused physical and
psychological distress to a number of spectators who had to seek
medical help," a statement on the Rheinoper's website said.
“After the scandal Burkhard C. Kosminski’s staging caused in the
premiere on May 4, we have decided to perform 'Tannhäuser' from May
9 in concert,” the opera company added.
This year marks the 200th anniversary of birth of the renowned
composer, whose music has been unofficially boycotted in Israel for
decades.
However, despite saying that Wagner’s adaptation was "in bad
taste,” Michael Szentei-Heise, the head of Duesseldorf' Jewish
community, told German press agency DPA that while Wagner was an
“ardent anti-Semite... he had nothing to do with the
Holocaust."
Attempts in Israel to perform music by Wagner, a supporter of
anti-Semitic views, often spark controversy.
Last year, Tel Aviv University canceled a Wagner concert scheduled
for June following a wave of protests against the show, which
activists said would “deeply offend the Israeli public in
general and Holocaust survivors in particular.”