Florentina Holzinger‘s opera leaves 18 treated by doctors

Eigheen audience members had to be treated by doctors for severe nausea after watching Florentina Holzinger‘s opera, Sancta, at Staatsoper Stuttgart in Germany, The Guardian newspaper and other media reported.

The Austrian choreographer’s work “included live piercing, unsimulated sexual intercourse and copious amounts of fake and real blood,” according to The Guardian.

Sancta is Holzinger’s first foray into opera. It premiered in June in her native Vienna and is based on Paul Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna, which premiered in Frankfurt in 1922.

All five remaining shows at Staatsoper Stuttgart and two performances in Berlin have since sold out.