The Hannover state opera house apologised for the incident and said on Monday that it was suspending ballet director Marco Goecke with immediate effect.

The daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that a furious Goecke approached its dance critic, Wiebke Huester, during the interval of a premiere at Hannover’s opera house on Saturday 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 faeces and smeared her face with the contents before making his way off through a packed theatre foyer, the newspaper said.

Huester identified the substance as dog faeces and said she had filed a criminal complaint, German news agency dpa reported.

In a statement posted on its website, the opera house said that Huester’s “personal integrity” was violated “in an unspeakable way.” It said that it contacted her immediately after the incident to apologise.

It said that Goecke’s “impulsive reaction” violated the ground rules of the theatre and that “he caused massive damage to the Hannover State Opera and State Ballet.” As a result, it said, he is being suspended and banned from the opera house until further notice.

Goecke has been given the next few days to apologise “comprehensively” and explain himself to theatre management “before further steps are initiated,” it added.

-AAP