MSPs are to investigate how a "hardcore" performance work was awarded more than £100,000 of taxpayers’ cash by Creative Scotland.

Rein by Leonie Rae Gasson, aimed to “push the boundaries of what it means to create and show dyke sex on screen," and promised an "erotic journey through a distinctly Scottish landscape” with the cast participating in real, explicit, sex.

The project was awarded £23,219 in lottery funding through Creative Scotland in August 2022 for research and development and then £84,555 through the agency’s Open Funding round in January.

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Earlier this month, following public outcry, the arts funding body withdrew support and they would be “seeking recovery of funding paid.”

Holyrood’s Culture Committee has now written to Iain Munro, chief executive of Creative Scotland looking for answers.

In the letter, Clare Adamson, the convener of the cross-party group, said they were aware of public concerns around the funding award and had noted the body’s decision to withdraw support.

She added: “While we recognise that it would not be appropriate for the Committee to be involved in individual funding decisions, there is nevertheless a legitimate public interest in how public money is spent.”

Ms Adamson asked Mr Munro to detail the money spent on Rein and how they were seeking to recover this. She also asked for more details of the criteria and process for considering funding applications.

The SNP MSP also warned the quango boss that the committee “may also wish to invite you to give oral evidence once we have had the opportunity to consider the conclusions of your review.”

The MSPs said in the “interest of accountability and transparency” the body should consider publishing the original funding application, something they have so far resisted.

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According to the project’s website, Rein was to be a “45 minute, multi-screen, immersive, moving image installation” performed by a mix of “dancers, sex workers, performers".

Audiences would be invited to “come see the Daddies lurking in the woods” and “bare arsed lovers frolicking in long grass” before the climax of the show, “a secret cave sex party featuring a feast” of explicit sexual practices.

The website explained that on traditional film sets, "sex is usually ‘simulated’ - performers wear modesty garments, there are barriers between them, genuine arousal is discouraged/prevented, and there would not be any genital contact."

However, Rein was a "sex positive exploration of dyke sexuality, and we are drawing on a long tradition of pornographic, erotic and radical queer performance work where the sex, in all its messiness and complexity, is allowed to be part of the process like other acts and feelings."

The site went on to say that "any sex that features will not be simulated but performed by cast members, with the support of the intimacy coordinators and access and care team.“

Creative Scotland said they would respond to the committee's letter in due course.