Oberammergau revised

Press, 13 June 1984, Page 20

Oberammergau revised

NZPA-Reuter Oberammergau The alpine village of Oberammergau in West Germany is staging a special season of its passion play to mark the 350th year of a vow to portray the life and death of Jesus Christ. Stung by charges of antiSemitism from Jewish Americans, however, the villagers have again revised their ancient script. The play originates in a

vow made to God by the villagers in 1634. The play is normally staged at the start of each decade, but this year, to celebrate the 350th anniversary, a special season has opened which will run until September. The 1970 performance was boycotted by many Americans, who usually ■form the bulk of the play’s foreign audiences, because the American Jewish committee said it disapproved of the blame for Christ’s crucifixion being placed squarely on the Jews.

A village panel with religious advisers rewrote the text for the 1980 performance in spite of opposition from some Oberammergauers. More changes have been made for this year. As the play opens, the chorus, dressed in flowing white and grey robes, sings: “In no way do we seek to blame others for these events. We recognise that we are all guilty.” The actors, all amateurs chosen by a 25-member male committee in secret ballot, must have been born in Oberammergau or have lived there for more than 20 years. The women must also be single and under 35 years old.

There are some 20 principal roles, and in crowd scenes up to 1700 people fill the 45m-long, open-air stage set against a backdrop of the snow-capped Bavarian alps. Allegedly anti-Semitic passages have been removed from the text, written in 1850 by Alois Daisenberger, Oberammergau’s parish priest, who adapted earlier texts going back to 1634.

References to Christ’s enemies as a brood of murderers and a gang of wicked men have been cut. In the scene in which

Christ is condemned to death, a group in the crowd shout to the judges to release him as a balance to those calling out to crucify him.

The 49-member chorus, which commentates on events, calls Jews “our brothers and sisters, of the people from which our Father came.”

Some villagers feel strongly about preserving what they see as the true Bible story. “In the end you just can’t change what the Bible says,” a 70-year-old Oberammergauer said. More than half a million visitors, many of them American. British and Australian, are expected to flock to Oberammergau for this season’s 100 performances.

The village stands to make a profit of about three million marks (more than SNZI.S4 million) from the season.

Peter Zwinck, aged 25, a dentistry student, and Max Jabloncka, a 35-year-old shop assistant, who alternate the part of Christ, will each earn 20,000 marks (SNZIO,7BO) for their role. Other actors, many of whom give up their jobs for the season, will take smaller sums.