THE PASSION PLAY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 286, 28 July 1932, Page 3

THE PASSION PLAY

ROTORUA SCREENING The great Passion play of Oberammergau has been produced every ten years since 1634. On many occasions fabulous sums have been oifered hy moving picture companies for the right to take moving pictures, but the humble peasants of this little village in the Bavarian Alps have regarded it as too sacred to the sold for gain. However, at the last presentation, 1930, the Oberammergau people decided to reserve to themselves the right of taking art pictures, and it is these pictures shown by their official sanction and nnder royalty that are to be presented at the Grand Theatre on Friday. How this play came into existence is of interest. It was at the time of the Black Plague in 1633. The village of Oberammergau had maintained a striet quarantine and had escaped the plague until late in the season. Casper Schuler, a resident, when away over the mountains, was taken with an uncontrollable desire to see his family He evaded the quarantine, and came home on Saturday evening. On Monday morning he was dead from the plague, which he had contracted outside the village and it rapddly spread till eighty-four persons died in thirty-three days. The villagers came together for a a day of fasting and prayer, at the close of which they promised that, if the plague was stopped, in recognition of God's mercy they would perform the scenes of Christ's passion and death every ten years as long as Oberammergau remainad a village. The plague was stopped and they have kept their vow, although in the face of many difficulties. It is a remnant of the church plays from the tenth to the eighteenth centuries, and it is a reverent means of trying to impress up-on the heart, hy ineans of the eye the wonderful -story of the Passion. It is the first time that the Passion Play of Oberammergau pictures have b'een allowed to be shown in New Zealand, and they are attracting more than usual interest. The season is limited, and there can he no extension. In view of the crowded housas in other centres, the management advise booking seats, for which there is no extra charge. It is open to all denominations, and is not being run for profit. Any profits that are made are used to take the pictures to smaller towns that ordinarily would not return expenses.