THE PASSION PLAY

Manawatu Standard, Volume L, Issue 138, 10 May 1930, Page 9

THE PASSION PLAY

OBERAMMERGAU PAGEANT. VILLAGERS’ DEVOTION. BIG FILM OFFERS REFUSED. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright). BERLIN, May 9. An American journalist visited the Bavarian village of Oberammergau in connection with the forthcoming presentations of the Passion Play. He saw busy at housework the woman who takes the part of the Virgin Mary. “You are young for the part,” 6aid the journalist. “Yes,” she replied. “At the Crucifixion the Virgin was fifty. I’m not yet twenty-three, but only unmarried women under thirty can participate in the Passion Play. People say that I will marry a rich American, but I never will. I will not leave Oberammergau. I played in the crowd when under four years of age. You’ll excuse me, we are expecting sixteen boarders to-morrow.” At the end of the street was “Saint John,” busy with a paint brush. He said: “I am glad the real play is coming. I am tired of rehearsals.” “Perhaps you will some day go to America to enter the films, the journalist suggested. “Never! We have had big offers, but no one at Oberammergau would do such a thing. But I musn’t 6tay gossiping. We have twenty boarders coming to-morrow.” COMMUNAL VOW. KEPT FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS. In the year 1663, when, during the Thirty Years’ War, pestilence had spread to tho secluded ' J nd pictuuvquc hamlet in the Bavarian Highlands, the je< pie of Oberammergau registered a communal vow, states a writer in the Sydney Morning Herald. In three weeks eighty-four deaths had occurred, 6adly depleting the ranks of the few hundreds comprising tho population of the village above the Ammer. It is alleged that, from the moment of making the vow, the sick began to recover and death miraculously stayed its hand. The vow has been kept for nearly three hundred years. The only interruptions to the decennial observance were the result of circumstances quite beyond local control. In 1779 an ecclesiastical ban prohibited all quasi-religious theatrical performances. Miracle and mystery plays the earliest form of drama, had fallen into ill repute; in many instances having degenerated either into burlesque or blasphemy. With tho exception of the Passion Play as presented at Oberammergau the ban was fully justified. The villagers of Oberammergau petitioned against tho decree, and explained the history and circumstances of their votive performance. Their petition was granted, and it was conceded that their presentation had always been observed as a religious act and kept entirely free from irreverence and from any feature unbecoming to the sacred theme. Thus in 1780, they were granted special exemption and their play permitted. Again in 1810 tho Pageant was suppressed, this time by the State authorities, and once aagin the enactment was appealed against. A deputation successfully waited upon Maximilian of Bavaria, and the performance, a year overdue, took place in 1811. It is of interest to note that tho next break in the continuity of the observance of this unique vow was in 1920 owing to economic conditions arising from the aftermath of the war. The play, however, was given in 1922, making it 12 years since the previous performance instead of the traditional decade. This year’s presentation marks the recommencement of the due decennial date. Although the Passion Play is only enacted every decade there are, in the interim, regular performances of minor religious and folk plays. The children are encouraged and trained to act. The coveted honour of one day being included in the cast of the Passion Play is a possibility more inspiring to the school children than the potential field marshal’s baton secreted in each schoolboy’s haversack. When it was found that the decennial performances wero becoming a source of revenue, the profits were utilised some years ago in erecting a rehearsal theatre capable of holding 4000. Here the suitability and talents of aspirants are judged and their progress watched year by year by a zealous committee. Eventually the committee’s nominees are voted upon and no political election arouses anything like the absorbing interest displayed throughout the process of the election of each Passion Play cast. The election is entered upon as a sacred task, and is preceded by the early celebration of a special Mass. Religious pageants and dramas featuring Old and New Testament episodes may definitely be traced back to tho tenth century. There is an extant MS, written in 4th century Greek, the “Christos Paschon,” ascribed to Gregory Nazianzen, but the authorship is very doubtful. A “Sory of the Crucifixion” was enacted at Frankfort-on-Main in 1501, and the Heidelburg text, from which the present Passion play is adapted, did not differ essentially from that used in this initial performance. The text was ultimately converted from verse to prose by Sebastian Wild, a cobbler of Oberammergau, and finally revised by tho local priest, Father Ottmar Weiss, in 1815. It is substantially tho same text that is now in use, and the music as arranged by Rothus Dedler, another local identity, is scored for 35 instruments and 40 voices. FAME ESTABLISHED. Subsequently to 1830 the play was performed in the village churchyard and commanded little beyond local interest. In the year mentioned the play was transferred to a field outside the town to cope with tho gradual influx of spectators from the neighbouring countryside. In 1850 Edouard Devrient, the renowned literary critio and producer, visited Oberammergau and witnessed the presentation of the Passion Play. His generous praise and appreciation rang throughout tho world, and the name and fame of Oberammergau and its Folk Play were established. Each succeeding decade witnessed increasing throngs of pilgrims and spectators. It is interesting to note that the cast has always been drawn entirely from the villagers, whose sole training in the histrionic art has been received from the parish priest. The main local industry is woodcarving, and Oberammergau has long enjoyed high repute for tho excellency of its craftsmanship. Their enthusiasm and talent for acting are probably inherited characteristics. In 1922 three members of the cast shared the great honour of participating for tho third time in succession in their respective parts. These were Anton Lang, as Christus; Martin Hohcnleiter, as Simon; and Anton Mayr, as Thomas. The peisonator of Christ has always been one well known for his model character and religious devotion as well as for a fancied resemblance to the features of Jesus as depicted in traditional art. Tdio cast in all numbers about 700 The whole produclinn is most delicately and devoutly treated The drama of Holy Week, from the triumphant Entry to Jerusalem to the Resurrection, is presented in sequence and portraved with sincerity. The dramatic element is subordinate to the dignity of the theme, the result being an impression of reverent realism. In fine weather brief intervals occur between the several stages of the drama when Old Testament tableaux and choral odes are presented. Should tho day bo wet there are no intervals between the acts. The play proceeds unhurriedly but continuously, players and spectators alike seemingly unconscious of pouring rain, although the performance may take eight hours to complete. A repeat presentation is now given on the

following day for the benefit of the many thousands who are always precluded from witnessing the first day’s pageant. LOYALTY TO AN IDEAL. In 1924 Anton Lang and eleven of the other principals of the 1922 cast visited the United States to exhibit and sell their woodearving wares for the benefit of the distressed and starving women and children in their native land who were the innocent victims of the post-war eco-nomic-chaos. They were offered a fabulous sum by film companies to consent to a cinematographic representation of tho Passion Play. Tho huge amount mentioned would have kept tho whole village of Oberammergau in luxury. Jho offer was courteously but definitely refused, An- - ton Lang adding: “It "; ou ! d * lO a des *' cration to accept it!’’ This incident surely epitomises the story of the Cross as a rebuke to modern commercialism. _ It is not without point as well as poignancy that the Passion Players of Oberammergau in their day of tribulation should have remained loval to *!"? s P int of their sacred Pageant, of .Memorial.