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Annina Machaz (center) plays Jesus in "Sancta".
X/Staatsoper Stuttgart
Annina Machaz from Zurich plays Jesus in the play "Sancta", which is currently being performed at the State Opera in Stuttgart and has sparked outrage in the media. Now she takes a stand.
The play "Sancta" at the Stuttgart State Opera triggered a huge media response after 18 audience members required medical attention due to revealing and bloody scenes. In three cases, a doctor also had to be called in.
Annina Machaz from Zurich has a leading role in "Sancta". She plays Jesus and is naked on stage in one scene. She can't understand the public outrage: "Whenever nudity is shown, it's very deliberate," Machaz tells Blick.
The problem is that people are getting excited about the play without having seen it. The scenes depicted are "aesthetic, almost cinematic". After the performance, she was approached by a priest: "He was enthusiastic and praised my Jesus very highly."
Machaz herself describes her role as follows: "I play a kind of business Jesus who offers 24/7 support. I'm responsible for the funny counterpart to this serious material."
The Zurich native also has a positive view of another scene in which a finger is pressed into a wound: "That's actually a good thing. That's the moment when it shows what problems there are in the world," Machaz tells Blick. However, because viewers find it difficult to distinguish between real blood and fake blood, this scene also triggers the circulatory problems of the people in the auditorium.
According to Machaz, another reason for medical incidents is the fact that many audience members "aren't exactly 20 anymore", the play lasts a long time and people don't drink enough. "Then there are just a few per performance who have to leave."
She also thinks it is wrong to blame individual scenes for the incidents. "That doesn't do justice to the opera and the work I put into my role." It also hurts her to be reduced to the part in which she is naked.
Not everyone would like "Sancta", "and that's a good thing. Art is never right or wrong and is always a matter of taste". For Machaz, one thing is clear: people should only judge the piece once they have seen it. And her message seems to be getting through: Since the lively coverage, all further "Sancta" performances have been completely sold out.
