After an attack with dog excrement: ballet director Goecke was banned from the house NDR.de – Culture

With his impulsive reaction to the journalist, Marco Goecke violated all of the Hanover State Opera’s principles of conduct, the theater management announced on Monday afternoon. In doing so, he unsettled the audience, the employees of the house and the general public “to the extreme” and “massively damaged” the State Opera and the State Ballet in Hanover. Suspension and house ban should protect against further damage. In the next few days, the ballet director will have the opportunity “to apologize comprehensively and to explain to the theater management before further steps are taken.”

Goecke accused critic Hüster of “such personal criticism”.

The incident between the ballet director and the journalist Wiebke Hüster happened on Saturday evening during the first break in the foyer, like the State Opera On your webpage communicated. Goecke accused her of “always writing such personal reviews,” said the employee of the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” (FAZ) of the German Press Agency. Then Goecke – who had his dog with him – pulled a bag out of his pocket and rubbed the feces in her face with the open side, Hüster said. “When I felt what he did, I screamed.” After the theater’s spokeswoman helped her to clean herself in the director’s washroom, she drove to the police and filed a complaint, Hüster said. A police spokeswoman told the Evangelical Press Service (epd) that the police were investigating insults and bodily harm. Now witnesses would be heard first. The spokeswoman did not want to give names for data protection reasons.

Artistic Director Berman: Critic “Hurted in Her Personal Integrity”

“We are extremely dismayed and apologize. We took care of the person concerned and apologized to her personally and also publicly. The Hanover State Opera is an open place of respectful cooperation and exchange,” said the director of the State Opera, Laura Berman. in a statement. Wiebke Hüster was “injured in her personal integrity”. “We believe that calm and care are now required.”

Goecke reacts on Instagram

Marco Goecke reacted on Instagram and justified the scandal by writing that the measure was full: “I’ve been working for 25 years and I don’t care about bad reviews! But there are limits! Nobody who has a business would put up with that! “

FAZ: Goecke threatened to be banned from the house and became violent

According to the FAZ, Goecke apparently felt provoked by Hüster’s review of his The Hague ballet evening “In the Dutch Mountains”. Goecke initially threatened her with being “banned from the house” and accused her of being responsible for canceling subscriptions in Hanover, she says FAZ the incident. “But we also see the humiliating act as an attempt to intimidate our free, critical view of art, in addition to the offense of physical harm,” the newspaper continues. Goecke’s “crossing of boundaries” revealed “the disturbed relationship of an artist to criticism”.

Feuilleton boss: “Do not recognize any systematic violation”

The ballet director’s overreaction remains a mystery to the FAZ. The criticism written by her journalist Hüster was particularly critical, but not in any way disparaging, said feuilleton boss Matthias Alexander of the NDR Lower Saxony. “We can’t see any systematic injury and there’s no history either,” Alexander continued.

Journalists’ Association: “Attack on freedom of the press”

The German Association of Journalists in Lower Saxony also condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. “An artist has to endure criticism, even if it may seem exaggerated. Anyone who reacts to criticism with violence is unacceptable,” writes state chairman Frank Rieger on Twitter. He called for a clearer reaction from those responsible: “The State Opera’s explanation of the incident is insufficient, because the attack on the journalist from the FAZ is also an attack on press freedom.”

Further information

The Staatstheater Hannover combines the three principles with three choreographies into one big ballet evening. more

According to the jury’s statement, his work crosses the entire spectrum of dance – from ballet to contemporary dance. more