Nobody knows exactly how tall Maria "Mariedl" Fassnauer was.
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The reported height of the Tyrolean giantess Fassnauer (1879-1917) seemed to vary depending on where she was performing.
"In Berlin she was two metres 36 centimetres; in London she was two metres 40 centimetres," Austrian-Australian actor Maxi Blaha said.
"Nobody really knows."
What's certain, though, is that by the time she was 15, Fassnauer, the oldest of six children born to a farming family, was well over two metres tall. Her family sent her away to be a servant when she was 16 but she was soon being exhibited in sideshows and later took charge of her own career, acquiring a manager.
Billed as Mariedl The Tyrolean Giantess, she became wealthy and famous.
Blaha is telling Fassnauer's story in Penny Black's play Mariedl, Selfies with a Giantess, which is having its English-language premiere at The Street Theatre.
A friend of Blaha, Sophie Reyer, mentioned Fassnauer to her and the actor's curiosity was piqued. This play was the result.
Blaha will be costumed and positioned to play Fassnauer in a modern-day equivalent to the exhibitions Fassnauer gave of herself.
"People can stare at me and ask me questions on my cell phone," Blaha said.
"I've given Mariedl Instagram and TikTok accounts - people can follow her."
Accompanying Blaha is Swiss harpist and composer Ursula Fatton, whose score echoes the moods of the story. Fatton's role is like that of Mariedl's sister Rosa, who accompanied her on her travels.
Blaha said Fassnauer's story raised interesting questions - what is a "freak"? what is "normal"? - and also resonated in an era of celebrity culture and an online world where people exploited themselves and their bodies in a quest for notoriety and money.
Fasnauer's height was caused by acromegaly, a rare condition in which a tumour next to the pituitary gland results in an excess of growth hormone being produced. While many people with physical abnormalities were exploited in sideshows, Fasnauer was able to take control and work in less tawdry venues.
"She filled the London Hippodrome," Blaha said.
"She met the Queen a couple of times."
It was also in London that Clive Darril, an Australian giant from Wagga Wagga, made a public proposal of marriage in 1907, having followed her around Europe.
"He wanted to found a dynasty of giants," Blaha said.
Fassnauer turned him down.
While Fassnauer's career was lucrative, it came at a personal cost for the shy, homesick woman.
She exhibited herself for hours on end - in theatres, spielgeltents and panopticons, at the Brussels World Fair and other places - sold merchandise, posed for photographs and endorsed products such as OXO.
People even paid to watch her eat.
"She often got very sad - it was very strenuous," Blaha said.
Fassnauer spent a lot of time praying in churches and used her money to help her family, paying off the farm, as well as making charitable donations.
Plagued by ill health, Fassnauer returned home a few years before she died at the age of 36.
She was buried in a huge coffin she had commissioned, having extracted a promise from her family that her body would not be sold to science.
Blaha is no stranger to Canberra, having performed Soul of Fire and Beloved Muse, other plays about notable women, at The Street Theatre.
Next year, she will take Mariedl, Selfies with a Giantess on tour around Europe.
Fassnauer's story will be told to a new generation, more than a century after her death, in the continent where she became famous.
Mariedl, Selfies with a Giantess is on at The Street Theatre on Saturday, November 25 at 7.30pm and Sunday, November 26, 2023 at 4pm. See: thestreet.org.au
