num_pages: 252
description: Passion Play is Sarah Ruhls biggest most ambitious effort yet (The New York Times) a three-and-a-half hour intimate epic plunging the depths of the timely intersection of politics and religion. Ruhl dramatizes a community of players rehearsing their annual staging of the Easter Passion in three different eras: 1575 northern England just before Queen Elizabeth outlaws the ritual; 1934 Oberammergua Bavaria as Hitler is rising to power; and Spearfish South Dakota from the time of Vietnam through Reagans presidency. In each period the players grapple in different ways with the transformative nature of art and politics are never far in the background as Queen Elizabeth Hitler and Reagan each appear played by a single commanding actor.Sarah Ruhls plays include Dead Mans Cell Phone Eurydice and The Clean House which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has been widely produced both throughout the country and internationally and she is the recipient of the MacArthur Genius Fellowship.
language: English
title: Passion Play
publisher: Theatre Communications Group