PREPARING THE PLAY

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 108, 9 May 1930, Page 9

PREPARING THE PLAY

A WORK' OF SECRECY

FORCE OF TRADITION

For months past one date,and one only has had any significance for ;the 2500 inhabitants of Oberammergau, the mountain village tucked away in the Bavarian Alps—llth May, when the first performance of the 1930 series of the 300-year oia Passion Play was scheduled to take place. Yet in the daytime the casual visitor would see very few signs indicating that anything unusual was afoot. Only after sunset, when the day's work was done, would the village undergo a metamorphosis, turning back the pages of history to the time depicted by the Passion Play, and then, owing to the secrecy which attended the' rehearsals, it was most difficult to appreciate the fact that the director, Johann Georg Lang, was assembling.his 700 performers nightly, and putting them through two hours of strenuous chpral and massmovement drills. ' .. By clay the Christus, Alois Lang, worked at fashioning a crucifix, while Anni Rutz, who plays the Virgin Mary, went to her secretarial work in Unterammergau, and Mary Magdalene, in real life Hansi Preisinger, daughter of the keeper of the tavern Alten Post, helps her father serve the guests. Alois Lang is a man. of 38 years. He is a distant relative of the former Christus, Anton Lang, who had the role in 1900, 1910, and 1922, and. is now considered too old to bear the strain. The new Christus, who is a woodcarver, is of somewhat more rugged type than, the former, and intends to emphasise the human qualities of Christ in contrast toHhe more spiritual side which Anton Lang favoured. Anton Lang is to read the prologue for each act. FIRST BLONDE MARY. Anni Butz is the first blonde to receive the role of the Virgin Mary. She is the daughter of the widow Eutz, who keeps a small confectionery shop. At the time ,of the elections -for the cast, last October, it was,a close lace between Anni Eutz and Hansi Pi~eisinger, who received the role of Mary Magdalene. Eraulein Preisinger is engaged to be married, which is believed to have influenced the committee, since there is a tradition that the role of the Virgin must be taken, by- an unmarried woman. . '" It may seem strange that two. Langs in a village of this size are only distantly related, but there are about 180 Langs and 120^ Eatzs in the_ population of Oberammergau. Every evening since 28th December all who were called upon had to appear on the stage of the practice theatre, where the details; of the play were exhaustively studied and perfected. Sunday afternoons the company gathered on the newly remodelled stage of the Passion Play Theatre, so that all would become familiarised with the proportions of the' great stage they would use this summer. MODERNISING THE PLAY. Nearly £40j000 has been spent in modernising the Passion Play Theatre, which now will accommodate 520.0 onlookers. Part of the stage, "which measures about 60 by 45 feet, has been covered with a glass roof to protect the players in rainy weather. The front of the stage, which is 120 by 20 feet, still is open to the sky. Eleven backdrops aro mounted on rollers underneath the stage, to be drawn up instead of being let down. Four huge trucks mounted on tracks will slide the forty'sets of wings in and out of place with less than a minute between scenes. Inasmuch that the p'erformane comprises two fourhour sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon, making timesaving essential, the latest type of scene-shifting machinery has been impressed into service in the world's largest amateur- theatrical undertaking. The musicians' stand, which holds fifty of Oberammergau's selected players, will be mounted oh rollers,, permitting it to be drawn under the- sheltered part of the stage in storms. The costuming was to be somewhat changed this year, the chorus appearing in white and gold and light grey robes instead of the former brightly coloured garments. The old time-honoured costumes of the actors will be substantially the same as previously. The director is anxious to attain simplicity throughout as the surest way to presarvo the religious character of the play. 300,000 VISITORS. It is expected that 300,000 visitors will come to Oberammergau between today.' and 2Sth September, which number Director Lang estimates will be necessary to make up for the losses through the currency inflation in 1922, when the Passion Play was last acted.

There will be thirty-two main performances and thirty-four supplementary 'Ones, which will be given at the

peak of the season, when more than two performances will be. given weekly to care for the ilocks of visitors. It is hoped to have approximately 5000 visitors on every performance day. Therefore, not the least important phase of the preparations concerns arrangements to handle the guests. This work customarily absorbs all of tho village's 2500 persons who are not actively participating in the play. The indications point to a record number of foreign visitors this year, especially Americans. A special ceremony was held rm tho Sunday 'after Easter, when Cardinal yon Faulhaber, Archbishop of Munich, dedicated the new theatre.