Art group banned for 'porno' play

The ban came only days after the municipal authorities in Warsaw accused the group of spreading pornography. The charge comes on the heels of an article in tabloid Fakt that accused the group's actors of staging live pornographic and sado-masochistic acts during a performance in M25, Warsaw's alternative theatrical hub.

The artists say the play in question, Clone Factory, is a depiction of the moral depravity of technological society, which sees the human body as a tool to be utilized and discarded, and what the tabloid took to be live sex acts were simply theatrical tricks.

The alternative festival in Łódż contended that the group was banned from performing for purely financial reasons. Suka Off subsequently offered to perform free of charge, and was still forbidden. In the end, the show was performed in a private club in Łódz where more than 100 people came to see the controversial act and, in the end, Tomasz Bieszczad of the Łódż Alternative Theater Festival, admitted that he was over the top in judging a play he'd never seen.

Peter S. Rieth