A play in which actors with Down's Syndrome are beaten, tortured, forced to eat excrement and perform in sex orgies has caused a storm in the Swiss city of Zurich.

Swiss theatre director Milo Rau, 40, is no stranger to scandals surrounding his productions.

Once described by a German weekly as 'the most controversial theatre director of his generation', Rau once used children to re-enact the horrific crimes of Belgian paedophile and murderer Marc Dutroux in his play 'Five Easy Pieces'.

Swiss theatre director Milo Rau has caused outrage after casting actors with Down's Syndrome in an adaptation of the Marquis de Sade's controversial book The 120 Days of Sodom

Critics have branded the play obscene due the sickening events depicted on the stage

During the appalling production, the actors are chained and led along the floor like dogs

In his latest scandalous offering called 'The 120 Days of Sodom', Rau once again tests the boundaries of what is acceptable in society.

His play is based on the film 'Salo', a 1975 Italian-French horror art film which in turn is based on the book 'The 120 Days of Sodom' by the Marquis de Sade.

The book was once banned in Britain after it was reviled as one of the most sexually violent texts ever written.

It tells the story of four wealthy male libertines who lock themselves up in a castle with a harem of 46 victims, which, after gruesome sex acts, ends in slaughter. Sade described his work as 'the most impure tale that has ever been told since the world began.'

Rau has raised eyebrows for getting mentally disabled cast members perform simulated sex acts on stage.

In the play, the actors with Down's Syndrome can be seen being beaten like dogs, humiliated, tortured and even forced to mimic eating excrement while being crucified, according to local media.

Rau slammed his critics claiming they were narrow-minded cynics

Others are made to eat simulated excrement as part of the incredibly debauched tale

According to the Rau, the play is 'a metaphor for the defiling rituals of contemporary populism'.

The award-winning theatre director defended using eleven disabled actors, stating: 'When you deal with a topic, that will very surely affect someone, you should not do without it.'

Rau explained that he wanted to hit the narrow-minded cynicisms of the world. He said his actors are 'the last generation of disabled who are, after all, still born'.

He pointed that the 'petite-bourgeoisie' is encouraging those with Down's Syndrome to be part of society, but at the same time recommends abortions for those whose foetuses have been identified as suffering from the condition.

One disgusted person wrote: 'For such really perverse c***, there are still grants because it is supposedly art. But from this we can see how sick society has become.'