The actress who stars in a controversial new opera as Jesus Christ has described the thrill she gets from performing dangerous stunts and taking to the stage naked.
Annina Machaz plays an unconventional version of the Messiah – characterized as a homeless drug addict – and plays a minor role as naked Adam in ‘Sancta’.
The nearly three-hour show about a repressed nun discovering her sexuality features unsimulated lesbian sex scenes, sword swallowing, real blood, piercings and gruesome injuries inflicted live on stage.
The performance was so moving that during the first two performances in the German city of Stuttgart, 18 spectators required medical treatment for nausea and shock.
Machaz is central to the chaotic show, which was staged by idiosyncratic Austrian choreographer Florentina Holzinger, and has also starred in the director’s previous shocking productions.
Themes include the sexual, physical and social oppression of women and a ‘dissection’ of Catholicism and organized religion
Annina Machaz takes center stage in the show, which was staged by Austrian choreographer Florentina Holzinger, and has also starred in the director’s previous productions.
Annina Machaz plays an unconventional version of the Messiah, characterized as a homeless drug addict
At one point, an actress playing Jesus knocks a half-naked woman off the screen
The opera about a repressed nun who discovers her sexuality contains non-simulated sex scenes
“What I find exciting about theater is the possibility of transformation,” she told the Swiss newspaper Tagesanzeiger last year.
The daring performer takes part in some of the show’s riskiest stunts, at one point dangling high above the stage completely naked.
In a Biblical reenactment, she is handed an apple by an actress playing Eve, and reaches out to actors below her in an allusion to Michelangelo’s fresco The Creation of Man.
In preparation for Holzinger’s bizarre shows, Machaz and her fellow performers undergo rigorous stunt training.
She says theater is about the thrill she gets from performing the risky tricks, which in one case involved setting herself on fire.
The scandalous show, which is loosely based on a 1921 opera that was canceled for being too blasphemous, has received severe backlash during its run this year
It was met with outrage from church figures in Austria when it was performed at the Vienna Festival in June, with one bishop saying the work exceeded the limits of artistic expression by “seriously offending the religious feelings and beliefs of believers.”
Themes of Sancta include sexual, physical and social oppression of women and a “dissection” of Catholicism and religion, with Holzinger calling it “our own version of the Mass.”
At one point, an actress dressed as the Pope is lifted into the air and spun by a robotic arm
In one scene, tattooed naked performers clamber across a table, drinking wine and singing, while another lifts a sword in the shape of a crucifix and shoves it into her throat.
In a particularly irreligious scene, Machaz, dressed as Jesus, spanks the buttocks of a half-naked nun.
Aspects of the opera that have been labeled blasphemous by critics include Christ’s loincloth being torn on the cross and one of the actresses who copulates with the statue.
At one point, roller-skating, half-naked nuns impress the audience by performing tricks in a halfpipe on stage.
In another bizarre scene, a woman Pope, played by an actress with dwarfism, is lifted into the air and spun around around by a robotic arm.
And in a particularly disturbing sequence, bodies are hung on the wall to mimic Christ on the cross, before vats of fake blood flow over them.
Most shocking of all, a critic described the moment one of the actors was injured live on stage.
The provocative performance is based on an opera that was labeled ‘blasphemous’ by critics
There is nudity during the performance, which has an age restriction for those present
To illustrate the Eucharist, the body of Christ, a piece of meat is said to be cut from a performer’s silk, which is then grilled medium rare.
On the show’s website, the opera company warns attendees that the performance art is “not fake, it’s real,” and recommends the performance to viewers who are “boldly seeking new theater experiences.”
“Sometimes you can give people a little hope by taking them to another world,” Machaz said in an interview given while she was on tour for another Holzinger play, in which she starred as Captain Hook.
The shocking performance includes nudity and ‘painful’ stunts
Naked performers hang like clappers from bells, with only their bare buttocks or heads visible
The remaining nights of Sancta’s run in Stuttgart are sold out due to the huge international interest in the show
Born and raised in Zurich before studying acting at the University of Bern, Machaz has won awards for her unconventional performances and directorial roles.
‘I was raised to believe that women can do anything. I have never felt disadvantaged,” says Machaz, the daughter of a successful businesswoman.
Described as a “disciplined” performer, she told Swiss media she enjoys spending time with her castmates as part of Holzinger’s all-female ensemble.
“We are all friends and enjoy spending time together outside of performances and rehearsals,” she told Tagesanzeiger.
She added that the intensity of their work means they can’t bear to party together after their shows, and instead go for walks or relax together to save their energy for the extended and extremely physical performances.