He would wear a kraxe, a frame something like an open backpack, completely draped with toys, puppets, figurines and religious carvings. All of those things become exquisite miniatures when the woodcarvers of today whittle a figure. Oberammergau's passion play theater looks out of place in such quaint surroundings. It's a practical, hulking, modern structure, painted pink and lime green with walls devoid of pixies or stags. Inside, the auditorium seats 4,700 under a high ceiling.
Audiences face an immense, open-air stage.
Hidden microphones carry every declamation and goat bleat back to the farthest row. After more than six hours of glancing at the pages and looking up quickly so as not to miss any of the spectacle, a lot of the audience left the theater on that first day rubbing their necks. Yet the premiere seemed to keep most people spellbound.