Mariedl, Selfies with a Giantess by Penny Black

Austro-Australian actor Maxi Blaha (Soul of Fire, Beloved Muse) makes her long awaited return to Canberra with her new play and the English premiere production of Selfies with a Giantess, in which she steps into the extraordinary life of one of the tallest women ever seen Tyrolean Maria Fassnauer (Mariedl).

Discovered in a small village in the Tyrol Alps by a man who was to become her manager she spent six years crossing Europe with her sister Rosa to be exhibited in theatres, at the Brussels World Fair, in many a German panoptikum, then the Hippodromes of London and Manchester. It was here that Clive Darril from Wagga Wagga, Australia, made his infamous marriage proposal in front of the press, which she turned down. She had sponsorship deals, met royalty, made a huge sum of money which she gave to her parents and a variety of charities; but behind it all was a shy religious woman who had to work hard, standing for hours posing and then selling postcards of herself.

Written by renowned UK-based playwright Penny Black and accompanied by Swiss harpist Ursula Fatton presented is a cornucopia of stage tableaus, illusion and monetisation rooted in the very human fascination with anatomical abnormality.