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16/03/2009Germans start to grow their beards for next year’s passion play

Germans start to grow their beards for next year’s passion play Villagers in Oberammergau in the southern German state of Bavaria are starting to gear up for the passion play they have performed every decade since 1634.

Once every 10 years, actors taking part in the Oberammergau Passion Play put personal hair preferences to the side as they begin to prepare for the momentous staging of the historic play.

As no wigs are used, participants must grow their hair and beards well ahead of next year's performances. The hair decree, as it is called, came into force on Ash Wednesday, on February 25.

Some 2,500 villagers have applied to take part in the next staging of the play from May to October 2010, according to its artistic director, Christian Stueckl.

"That is 300 more than we had the last time the play was performed in 2000," he told a press conference in Munich, outlining details of his third term in charge of the production.

A historic event
Inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau in the southern German state of Bavaria have performed the passion play every decade since 1634. Its origin dates back to the Thirty Years War, when the village was decimated by the bubonic plague.
Pieter Brueghel" The Triumph of Death"
Pieter Brueghel " The Triumph of Death" depicting plague in the 16th century

The surviving population promised God that if he saved them, they would commemorate his act by staging a dramatic representation of Christ's suffering, death and resurrection every ten years.

The only time the play was not performed was during World War II.

The entire cast consists of villagers who live permanently in Oberammergau, which has a population of 5,000. They must also be amateurs and people of high moral and ethical principles.

A requirement restricting the roles to Christians was dropped in 2000, when young Muslims living in the predominantly Catholic village were allowed to appear in the play for the first time.

Stueckl altered the text of the 2000 version to remove passages that had, in the past, offended Jewish groups with their depiction of Jews as Christ-killers, giving the play an anti-Semitic slant.

The artistic director also plans to change the text for the new season, placing less emphasis on the "revolutionary aspect" of Jesus in favour of showing the "consequential way that Christ lived his life, right up to his crucifixion."

Controversial changes
The Oberammergau Passion Play is performed in German and runs for five-and-a-half hours, with a three-hour break. In the past it was staged during the morning and afternoon.

For the first time, the 2010 version will be performed in the afternoon and evening, a change that caused a lot of controversy, according to the play's spokesman Frederik Mayet.

"The issue was put to a referendum, in which 4,000 people took part,” he said. “Sixty-five per cent were in favour on the new schedule.”
AFP PHOTO DDP/DANIEL SAMANNS
A picture taken 17 May 2000 shows Martin Norz (C) as Jesus Christ and other lay actors during a rehearsal of the passion play in Oberammergau. Traditionally, inhabitants of Oberammergau perform every ten years since 1634 the Passion Play, depicting the life and death of Jesus.

The final cast selection is due to be made on April 18, with rehearsals scheduled to begin in October.

Stueckl has also designed a new setting for the production but will continue to use the colourful costumes designed and made by villagers for the 2000 staging.

More than half-a-million visitors, many from abroad, are expected to descend on the picturesque Alpine village for the 100 performances. Tickets cost between 49.5 euros and 165 euros (64 and 214 dollars).

Passion plays have been staged since the 12th century and often give a detailed portrayal of Christ's physical suffering. Many of them include explicit dramatisations of the beating and execution of Christ.

DPA/Expatica

Head photo: Actor Anton Burkhart hangs on a cross during a photo shooting of the Passion play in Oberammergau 24 May 2000. AFP electronic image by JAN NIENHEYSEN



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