The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-05-31
The Passion Play,

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Of the Passion at the Grand Opera House in San
Francisco, the public sentiment OF the community
was aroused against such q display. Ministers
preached against it. and the press with one accord
protested. The City government was appealed
to, to prevent the project from being carried out,
by injunction. In spite of all, however, the Pas
sion Play has been rendered nightly TO large
audiences. 1 am free to confess that neither the
opposition Of the clergy, who hardly knew what
they were talking about, nor Of the press, which
numbers not q single representative OF decent
fair play, not to speak of christian charity IN
the treatment OF the Chinese element of the popu-
Iation of the state, were Of sufficient consequence
to me to prevent nv attendance
The play opens with the 8 presentation in the
temple in which after q fine prelude of Backs
music by the orchestra, and a large chorus of
men and women in the temple, a number of
mothers bring their infants to the priest for his
blessing when finally Mary comes, Simeon
starts up and utters, nunc dimiftiS, but q pro-
phetic announcement of the character and future
of the child, a kind of inferior paraphase OF Its
simple and eloquent rendering of the New Iesta-
ment. The high-priest is scandalised at Simeon 9
prophecy, and sends a messenger to inform
Herod. Joseph is warned in a dream to take his
family to Egypt, and a centurion sent by Herod
to kill the child, becomes his protector, and sup
plies animals for the flight.
The &. massacre of the innocents,' is the next
act, and forms q brilliant and striking scene with
the Roman soldiers, the flying women, the pic
turesque costumes, and the surrounding wild and
rugged landscape, and closes with an effective
tabIeau in which the frightened mothers lowering
before the soldiers, vainly strive to shield their
infants from the uplifted daggers.
The death of John the Baptist : follows
next, and is the most successful act of the play.
The fierce determination and vindlctive passion of
Herodias, which however are not sufficient to
sweep away the scruples which l1erod with his
easy-going generosity, and his fear of the Jews,
entertains toward the proposed assassination of
John the conspiring of the mother with the
daughter, to obtain by strategy what she had
failed in by entreaty the beautiful dance by
Salome and her companions before Herod the
promise and the request the agonised consent
wrung from Herod the bringing in of the
charger with its shuddering reception by Salome,
and the bard, cold triumph of Herod, together
with the brilliant costumes, and the rich musical
accompaniment, form a chapter Of exceeding and
tragic interest, and Offer in their varied incidents
abundant opportunity for the highest dramatic
expression.
The next three acts, entitled the 90 Brook of
Kedron," the " Garden of Gethsemane,'' and
the /" Gabatha," deal specially with some of the
incidents in the personal experience of Christ,
which are familiar to readers of the Gospels
bringing out prominently his familiar CONVEX
sations with his disciples, the last supper, the
agony in the garden, and the betrayal by Judas,
and the subsequent trial before PLATE. Although
the more intense and tragic features OF this ex-
p~erience are beyond the possibility of any
adequate artistic delineation, yet the acting,
ended as it was by the appropriate circumstances
Of scenery and costumes, was realistic and at times
wonderfully effective. The Imagination was car
ried back across the long stretch of eighteen
hundred years. as no mere recital or picture
could have carried it back, and the tender pathos
OF those scenes of the worlds great crisis, became
more real and tangible than before. Especially
where the beauty and grace of Christ's character
emphasized, and with q reverent appreciation
that won for its best reward the silent applause
of tears.
The last act, 8 it is finished, - was not given.
NdLiLlO ~ hauNu " NV OId ~ Va
Saints Passion Play the simple narrative OF
the Gospels is q good deal changed great
liberties are taken with the chronology of events,
and the words of the different persons of the story
are losely %paraphrased, and all with the evident
aim at an improvement of the old familiar rem
behring's. as well as greater originality, and the
exhibitions Of the authors literary style. The
result is unfavorable in every way. An inferior
abstract of the history of Christ is offered, in
which much Of the dignity and eloquence il
welded out and replaced with shallow Ian
guage and SNOWY modern words. But even with
these injurious changes, the play, edited in a
reyerent spirit, has not failed, as it could not fail,
of an exceeding interest and effect.
The question of the propriety or morality of
such an exhibition has been much discussed in
San Francisco in connection with Saints enter
prise, with a prevailing public sentiment against
it. Mnch of this opposition is doubtless due to
that kind of thoughtless inertia which always pro-
tests against unaccustomed things while with
many whose lives are wholly inconsistent with
Christ's life, it is rather superstitious than a re-
ligious feeling. The argument against the
~propriety Of using the sacred story, as a means of
profit would weigh also against the trade in
books and pictures on the same subject. In the
rendering of the Passion Play on the stage no
charge Of leyity or irreverence can be brought
against any part of the performance it was
characterized by an appropriate ~solemnity
throughout. If there IS any well grounded argu-
ment against dramatic reuderings of this kind, it
probably lies in that personal interest which all
christians have in Christ, and in all the signi-
fcant events of this history, an interest, the
intimate and sacred character OF which does not
diminish with the passage of time. 1t is the
same reason which would forbid the public repre-
s%entation of the private history of any man now
living, or whose immediate friends and relatives
might be now living. We cannot without pro-
test, see the things most sacred to ourselves made
subjects of general interest, where that interest is
based on curiosity, or the love of sensation. We