Audience member attacks actor playing a Roman soldier during Jesus crucifixion play

A brawl broke out during a performance of the Passion of Christ play in southern Brazil this past weekend after an audience member charged the stage and attacked an actor playing a Roman soldier.

A video making its way around various media outlets shows the unidentified man climbing up on the stage in Nova Hartz town centre and hitting the actor over the head with an object. According to The Independent, city planning director William da Silva said more than 1,000 people were watching the play as the chaos unfolded.

“[The man] leapt up from the middle of the audience and no one guessed what he was about to do,” Mr Da Silva said.

“Witnesses reported the attacker was shouting ‘he was not going to let Jesus die’ before he barged onto stage,” he added.

Reports say the man suffers from mental illness and has a history with police.

As seen in the video, other actors chased after the man in an attempt to restrain him, but he still went after the actor.

“We halted the play for a few moments, but as no one had been injured, we decided to continue with the staging,” said the play’s director, Samir Rodrigues.

The actor was reportedly shaken, but unhurt.

Watch the video below:

Featured image via screen grab

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.