ABOUT THE PASSION PLAY

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 71, 2 July 1910, Page 10

ABOUT THE PASSION PLAY

DRAWS TOURISTS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. B>/ 2 HOURS' CONTINUOUS ACTING. At Oiberanimergau, a little village in the Bavarian Alps, the time for producing the famous 'Passion Play" has come round again. This play is revived every ten years, and tourists are flocking to see it from every comer of Europe. It commenced on Whit-Monday, and will be performed at intervals all through the summer (says Pearson's Weekly).

It owes its origin to a vow. In 1003 all Europe was swept by the Black Plague. It was the time of the Thirty Years' War,, ami what the soldiers left, disease destroyed. Oberammcrgau suffered heavily.' In despair, the villagers swore that they would produce every ten years a play depicting the sufferings and death of Christ if Providence would only take away the plague. At once the plague abated. The vow has been observed till this day.

For a year before the production no Oberammergauer patronises the barber. All let their locks grow, for no wigs or false beards are allowed. Anon bong, the famous potter who plays Christ, has never had his hair cut in his life. Ever since he was old enough to know what his village was famous for he determined he would play Christ when he was old enough, and refused to have his hair cut. Sinion is played .by a cooper, John by a plumber, Andrew by a shoemaker, and so on. It is an odd coincidence that the man who takes the part of the Roman Governor is Mayor of the village. Between times he is a. wood-carver, and it was at his bench that he studied law and fitted himself for the office of mayor, which he holds for life. All the players have Jjeen rehearsing every night since last October. They are so full of their parts that for months before the production no names are heard except the Biblical ones. The staple industry of the village in»- of imnjW and miCiHxes; and if the visitor asks where he can get the best carvings, he will probably be advised to call on Judas or Pontius Pilate. They really forget their own names. Practically everyone in the vijlage is concerned in the production. No niar.ried women are allowed on the stage, and the supply of players is further limited by the strict rule that every player must be of blameless character in private life.

In each of the two great tableaux which are shown before the play ..proper, and which represent, one the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Eden, the other the adoration of the Cross, over six hundred people will be on the stage, about half of them being school children. The theatre in which the performances are held is a gigantic erection of painted wood and huge iron girders. It is as shapeless and unsightly as a great railway station.. It seats four thousand two hundred people. The seats rise in tiers very steeply towards the back of the house.- There are no galleries. It cost £ 10,000 to build, and was built in 1899. Every seat is reserved, and the most expensive seats are, curiously enough, at the hack. The audience is drawn from all over the civilised world. American steamship companies run special trips for it. There are Passion Play excursions from every country in Europe. Each performance lasts a solid nine and a-half hours. It begins at eight (after a special Mass at six), and runs steadily on till half-past Ave. During the festival the village has to find accommodation for over 4000 trippers. The Obeiammergauers object to "day trippers," and refuse to let visitors stay anvwhere except in the village. To this end the tickets for the play, which should be ordered beforehand, are only issued in connection with rooms in the village. You cannot fet a ticket without a room. The stage- of the theatre is open to the sky and also at the hack. So the audience sees the play against a background of mountains, fir-trees, and blue sky. The stage management, which is wonderfully fine, owes nothing to outside help. No make-up is allowed. As the committee that' controls the undertaking has fixed the prices of the seats at from two shillings to ten, and as the audiences are so large, one would think a gigantic profit would be made by someone. But no, the large sums raised are mostly absorbed in parish undertakings.