THE PASSION PLAY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21899, 7 September 1934, Page 14

THE PASSION PLAY

NEW ZEALANDER'S VISIT DEEP IMPRESSION MADE [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, Thursday A view of the Passion Play at Oberammergau, Bavaria, in July, is described by the Rev. G. G. Barnett, formerly dean of Hamilton, and now vicar of Ifield, Sussex, in a letter received this morning by Mr. Philip Le Quesne,* of Hamilton. Mr. Barnett said that Oberammergau | was a small village almost in the Bavarian Alps, near to the border of the Austrian Tyrol. There were steep hills on three sides, with a valley to the north. For months the villagers had been preparing for the play. Canon J. R. Wilford, late of College House, Christchurch, New Zealand, was temporarily in charge of the Church of England at Oberammergau. Referring to the Passion Play, which he witnessed on Sunday, July 8, and which made a great impression on him, Mr. Barnett said that Alvis Lang, who took tho part of the "Christus," was very tall, and dark, with very fine features. The day was fine and the theatre in which the play was enacted was filled with 6000 people. The roof was semicircular, and the stage end was open to the sky. The chorus, consisting of mei\ and girls, filed in at 8.15 a.m., and the prologue was spoken by Anton Lang, who used to take the principal part before his son was chosen. A chorus number followed, and the curtain was withdrawn to reveal a tableau. Twenty tableaux, each perfectly staged, and each representing a scene leading up to the Crucifixion and Ascension, were shown. The first scene was the triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. There were 16 acts, each introduced by prologue, chorus, and tableau. The play lasted from 8.15 a.m. until 5.30 p.in., with a break of hours at midday. The only time the spectator felt that the vast crowd was losing interest at all was during the various trial scenes, and this was perhaps partly accounted for by the heat.