Tim Minchin All Beat Up: 'They Really Fucking Hurt Me'

Tim Minchin is suffering for his art, and he doesn't mind one bit. The arms of the acclaimed actor, cabaret performer and writer of musical theatre are covered in bruises as he works up the requisite passion to portray Judas in the touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock'n'roll musical Jesus Christ Superstar.

“It's because I told the guys playing the guards to stop being such pussies,” smiles Minchin. “They just weren't grabbing me. I have this scene where I'm screaming at Caiaphas and I told them 'You have to hold me back or I'm gonna tear his face off'. They said they didn't want to hurt me, so I called them pussies and then they really fucking hurt me.”

Having been a fan of the musical since his teens, Minchin was honored to be able to interpret the role so wholeheartedly, as he believes that even today, it is one of the finest musicals ever created; citing Lloyd Webber and Rice as radicals.

“Somehow at the ages of 21 and 25, these two went 'Yeah, let's write about the last week of Jesus' life but we'll write it like an atheist thing or at least a secular thing. And we'll put Judas at the centre of it, we'll give Judas the ethical dilemmas, we'll make him the protagonist, we'll have Jesus slightly caught up in his own press and we'll fucking kill Judas and then crucify Jesus. Will Jesus come back from the dead? The fuck he will – Judas will come back from the dead and sing a satirical rock song about religion!'

"The potential for this to be a load of crap is just massive but it's profoundly awesome! Can you even conceive of an equivalent now? Can you think of anyone willing to take that kind of risk now?”

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