Play Has a Fly in the Ointment

SALZBURG, Austria —  Austrian playwright Thomas Bernhard’s new play calls for some strange extras--800 flies.

But Salzburg’s public health department has barred the insects from making their theater debut. Austrian ORF television reported that the flies were supposed to sit on a dunghill. However, a health officer said they posed a health risk to the audience. ORF quoted him as saying that the plan could go ahead only if the theater guaranteed that all 800 flies would be caught alive after each performance.