GOLGOTA PICNIC

GOLGOTA PICNIC
is an experimental theater play by Argentinian playwright Rodrigo García,
featuring Marino Formenti’s interpretation of Joseph Haydn’s
“The Seven Last Words of Our Saviour On the Cross”.

Rodrigo García wrote the text to the performance, which he also directed.

In GOLGOTA PICNIC Marino Formenti performs the 60′ music work completely naked.

RECEPTION HISTORY

The “interweaving of serious critique of consumer society and despair over the human race through a deconstruction of Jesus of Nazareth” attracted lot of criticism from conservative Christian groups.
Its performance in 2011 in the French city of Toulouse and Paris led to huge protests by French Catholics.
The Bishop Dominique Rey of Frejus-Toulon criticized Garcia’s depiction of Christ as “madman, dog, pyromaniac, Messiah of Aids, devil-whore, no better than a terrorist”.
In 2014 Polish Catholics and nationalist activists protested against staging of this play in Poland.
As in France, the play faced criticism from high-ranking members of the Catholic Church, such as Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki.
The play was withdrawn from the Malta Festival Poznan due to fears of riots.
Dissenting artists held informal readings of the play, and a number of prominent artists led by film director Agnieska Holland petitioned Polish government to intervene and prevent religious radicals from violating the freedom of expression, describing the protester actions as “an assault against Polish and European democracy and a symptom of backwardness”. Meanwhile, politicians from the conservative Law and Justice Party said that the play violates Polish blasphemy laws (Article 196 of the Polish Criminal Code which states that the “anyone who offends the religious feelings of other people can be subject to a fine, restriction of liberty or imprisonment for up to two years”), and filed a motion with prosecutions for investigation.
Polish culture minister Malgorzata Omilanovska supported the artists by saying “Freedom of artistic expression is the basis of democracy and the constitution.”
The national newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza published eventually the script on 28 June.
The Magazine “Polityka” described the play as “the most famous in the 250-year history of Polish theater”.