1 of 1 Hanover Opera, Germany, Monday February 13, 2023 — Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP Hanover Opera, Germany, Monday February 13, 2023 — Photo: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP
The Hanover Opera announced on Monday (13 January) that it had dismissed its ballet director, who was being investigated by the police for rubbing dog feces on the face of a journalist who had given one of his shows a negative rating.
Last Sunday, during the premiere of his show “Faith Love Hope”, in free translation, the director of the ballet in Hanover, Marco Goecke, verbally attacked the criticism of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Wiebke Hüster, before throwing a handful of dog excrement takes it out of his pocket and rubs it in the journalist’s face.
According to the FAZ, Goecke expressed his anger at the criticism of his show published in the newspaper last Saturday, in which Hüster claims that when you watch Goecke’s ballet you can “switch back and forth between madness and boredom”. among other observations.
Goecke, 50, has been director of the Hanover Opera Ballet since 2019. The feces he used in the attack were said to have been produced minutes earlier by his dog, the dachshund Gustav. The choreographer, who always wears sunglasses, can often be seen at the opera with Gustav in a bag.
On Sunday he threatened critics with being banned from the house and blamed them for operagoers canceling their membership before the performance.
“Shocked at myself”
Hüster commented on the incident that Goecke “suddenly pulled a bag out of his pocket. He rubbed dog poop on my face with the side of the bag opening. I cried out when I realized what he had done.”
An Opera employee helped her clean up in one of the toilets before she went to the police and recorded the incident. The authorities have initiated investigations against Goecke for bodily harm and insult.
The director spoke to a local broadcaster about what happened, but avoided apologizing to the FAZ critic. “I think my choice of form [da agressão] it wasn’t great at all.” He said his act was “certainly not recognized or respected” by society.
“I’m a person who’s never done anything like this, so obviously I’m a little bit shocked at myself.” However, he tried to justify himself by saying that his work, his person and his business had also been attacked over the years.