Racy opera with naked rollerskating nuns hits back after claims audience members threw up

An house has denied that audience members were sick while watching its risqué show involving real blood and naked rollerskating .

The Staatsoper Stuttgart in is hosting Sancta Susanna, a radical opera organised by composer Paul Hindemith, which debuted on October 5 and is due to run until November 3. The performance about the life of a nun exploring her caused controversy thanks to its X-rated content, which includes lesbian sex scenes.

In response to a reported 18 people needing assistance over the weekend due to the shocking one-act show, Johannes Lachermeier, head of communications at the opera house, said on : “Just for the record: nobody threw up at the performances.” A doctor was also said to have been called for treatment three times.

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A tweet on October 10 from the opera house said that “both evenings were well received” and that first aid reports were for someone who "left the auditorium and we gave the person a drink of water.” Further performances are due to go ahead, with seven in total as planned.

The opera house's tweet continued: “Well, probably nothing on the opera stage (except Holzinger's performances themselves) is comparable to #StgtSancta. We just wanted to say: We are generally not afraid to bring sensitive topics to the stage.”

Florentina Holzinger, an extreme performance artist, . This modern performance sees its all-female cast playing nuns who strip off their habits throughout the course of the "sensual, poetic and wild" show. But scenes grow increasingly bizarre, including when an actress with dwarfism dressed as the Pope is raised into the air and spun around by a robotic arm, while another performs Eminem songs dressed as Jesus.

During the opera, the central character, Susanna, discovers her sexuality, eventually pulling down Jesus' loincloth on the crucifix in a scandalous climate. At one point in the show, the naked nun even has sex with the icon. Other performers are seen hanging out of bells as clappers, with just bare bottoms or heads visible, while one is seen lifting a sword in the shape of a crucifix and pushing it down her throat.

An opera spokesman told the Mail that those affected by the performance that the people affected were sitting in the front row, and would have known "what they are letting themselves in for". While a spokesperson also told the Guardian: “On Saturday we had eight and on Sunday we had 10 people who had to be looked after by our visitor service.”