A German newspaper critic had animal faeces smeared on her face in the city of Hannover by a ballet director who apparently took offense at a review she wrote.
The Hannover state opera house apologized for the incident and said that it was suspending ballet director Marco Goecke with immediate effect.
According to German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a furious Goecke approached its dance critic, Wiebke Huester, during the interval of a premiere at Hannover’s opera house and asked what she was doing there.
It said that the two didn’t know each other personally.
The newspaper said that Goecke, who apparently felt provoked by a recent review she wrote of a production he staged in the Dutch seat of government, The Hague, threatened to ban her from the ballet and accused her of being responsible for people canceling season tickets in Hannover.
He then pulled out a paper bag with animal feces and smeared her face with the contents before making off through a packed theater foyer, the newspaper said.
Huester identified the substance as dog feces and said she had filed a criminal complaint.
