IIn 1971, German actor Klaus Kinski performed a dramatic monologue titled Jesus Christ Savior in the Deutschlandhalle area of Berlin, but things did not go according to plan. A controversial figure during his lifetime, Kinski was irascible, arrogant, and had a violent temper.
Film director Werner Herzog famously worked with Kinski on films such as Aguirre, The Wrath of God, and Fitzcarraldo, and later filmed a documentary called My Best Fiend about the actor’s unruly antics. The vengeance went both ways: in his memoir, Kinski imagined Herzog dying of the plague or being eaten alive by ants.
In his experimental novel Jesus Christ Kinski, Benjamin Myers attempts to get inside the actor’s mind during his ill-fated Berlin performance, when, after presenting himself as the Messiah, the audience jeered and heckled him, some of them demanding their money back. The show gradually devolved into a profanity-laced match between Kinski and his rapidly dwindling audience.
As the narrator, actor Rory Kinnear energetically inhabits Kinski, reveling in his uncontrolled anger and scattered insults. Taking the interruptions to the extreme, Kinski glanced at a heckler and shouted: “I’m a genius, you piece of shit!”
Kinski’s satire is interspersed with memories of his early life, his work with Herzog, as well as scenes in which an unnamed writer – whom we assume to be Myers – contemplates the wisdom of his latest project. While these latter segments don’t have the same impact as Kinski’s meltdown, they offer interesting thoughts on the writing process and how much oxygen should be given to an actor who, if he were alive today, would almost certainly be cancelled.
Available through Bloomsbury, 3 hours 7 minutes
listen further
keep laughing
Chris McCausland, PEnguin Audio, 10 hours 5 minutes
The comic and Strictly winner reflects on his early years in Liverpool, his experience of sight loss, his career in standup and his unexpected inclination towards dancing. Read by author.
Caledonian Road
Andrew O’Hagan, Faber22 hours 51 minutes
O’Hagan’s cross-national novel is set in contemporary London and describes the fortunes of Campbell Flynn, a wealthy art historian and writer, a man who has it all until an unwise business collaboration brings about a dramatic revelation. Narrated by Michael Abubakar.
