Regisseur Tilman Knabe's staging of Saint-Saens "Samson And Delilah" -- that hasn't even opened yet -- seems to be a pretty nasty piece of work. There's some seriously bad mojo in Cologne surrounding the secks & violence tone of the production, so bad that, reports Deutsche Welle:
"Twenty-eight of the 64 chorus singers and three of the leading voices have stopped coming to rehearsals, according to opera spokesman, Johannes Wunderlich."
"Israeli mezzo soprano Dalia Schaechter, who plays the lead role of Delilah, and Samuel Youn, as the high priest, have reportedly thrown in the towel, as has Ulrich Hielscher, who plays the part of the old Jew."
"Director Tilman Knabe has set his production of Camille Saint-Saen's Samson and Delilah in the modern-day Middle East, instead of biblical Palestine. The staging includes a bloody machinegun battle and a gang rape".
Whether or not this protest will be able to sink the show remains to be seen -- opening on May 2nd. Maybe.
Below, an image from Knabe's Turandot, another quite unorthodox production. Uncensored, Not Safe For Work (NSFW) version after the jump...