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Uproar at the theater: Oedipus Excellence” canceled due to abuse issue!
Premiere of the play “Ödipus Excellence” at the Osnabrück Theater on the subject of Catholic abuse was canceled, conflicts in the directing team escalated.
Uproar at the theater: Oedipus Excellence” canceled due to abuse issue!
Things are simmering in Osnabrück, and not just because of the upcoming theater start. The premiere of the much discussed play “Oedipus Excellence”, which was scheduled for August 31st, was surprisingly canceled. As part of the project, a creative team led by director Lorenz Nolting and dramaturg Sofie Boiten was supposed to deal with the dark chapters of the Catholic Church and the topic of sexual abuse. But the collaboration ended abruptly when the theater management fired the two at the end of June, which is considered extremely unusual in the theater world. taz.de reports that the reasons for this drastic decision lay in “irreconcilable differences in the type of artistic implementation”.
The planned production promised to use Seneca's ancient drama as a reflection of the Catholic Church. The conflict escalated particularly over the depiction of a church service, which was strictly rejected by director Ulrich Mokrush. He expressed concerns about the protection of believers and criticized the “platitude” and “showmanship” of religious symbols. According to katholisch.de, the diocese of Osnabrück rejected all allegations of possible influence on the production.
Conflict over the staging
The theater management and the directing team obviously did not agree on the artistic direction of the piece. While Nolting and Boiten tried to coherently address the mechanisms of guilt and cover-up that have been observed in the Catholic Church for years, Mokrusch was of the opinion that the religious context should not be presented in this way. These differences ultimately led to the separation, with Nolting emphasizing that he had worked with the greatest care on the implementation and that the accusation of “lurid handling” was unjustified, as hpd.de reports.
The conflict was also accompanied by financial losses and legal threats, which the directing team reported. Now the former directing team is planning a protest with the support of activists and will try to draw attention to their cause near the theater or the cathedral. City officials are already having difficulty granting approval for the planned demonstrations, further complicating the situation.
The future after the scandal
While the cancellation of “Oedipus' Excellence” came as a shock to those involved, many hope that another theater will pick up the production, sparking a necessary discussion about abuse of power and cover-ups within the Catholic Church. Karl Haucke, a victim of sexual abuse and co-creator of the piece, described the cancellation as a “slap in the face for those affected”. There are over 400 known cases of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Osnabrück and it seems that the time is right to finally address this issue openly.
The Osnabrück Theater is currently planning to open its new season with the comedy “Art” by Yasmina Reza. However, the debate about “Oedipus Excellence” remains in focus and it remains to be seen what will happen next with art and the reappraisal of the Catholic Church.