Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1895-09-13
THE PASSION PLAY.
NEW VERSION TO BE PRODUCED IN
A SWISS TOWN.
A Stage In the Open Air-six Hours
Required to Produce the Great
Riay-yfyid biblical History De-
ufctcd.

In the little watch making tOWn OF
Selzach, Switzerland, this summer
there will be presented n new version
Of the Passion Play. With rnro excep-
tons, the production nowadays OF a
play Of this kind, dealing as it does
I with d living and breathing represent
tation of Christ upon the stage, pro-
yokes little opposition in many OF the
European countries
This country has not vet Outgfown
it's Puritanical abhorepce of the Pas
sion Play, but in certain Seef1Dns of
Europe the desire on the part of the
public for productions of this kind is
growing. Violent opposition at times
greeted the first performance of the
play at Oberammergan some years
ago. but all this is changed. Some of
the foreign writer's and thinkers re-
gard this change not in religious
light at all. They asser.. saat ii is
merely one of the reyollits&ss In taste
of the stage-loving public, and point
TO the fact that in the realm OF thea
tric art Il change in rapidly working
in the direction of the popular plays
or mysteries Of the Middle Ages. The
public, they claim, want plays of this
kind, ana in meeting the demand the
theatrical folks have gone much fur.
Their back. in fact, to Biblical times.
With the Forthcoming Passion Play
at Selzach and sacred opera called
s.Christus" by the late Anton Rubin-
stein now being produced at the Bre-
men Opera house, the Europeans
faif Of tn re
lions of this kind.
+ Rubinstein's opera, after it has run
the gauntlet of the European capitals,
will probably be brought to this coun-
try, but it is d question whether It's
production will be permitted. IL VIII
be question of local option with the
cities, and even, il it is eventually
staged here it will only lie after most
bitter fights With the opponents or
plays of this kind. 1t will also be
largely modified, as in it's present
shape it presents all of the lending
events of Christss life upon earth, With
the exception of the cruc;tixion.
The play to be produced at Selzach
goes more into details than Rubin
STEMS opera. Two years ago the Pas-
sion Play was given at Selzach. The
success achieved was very marked,
as the best critics Of Europe agreed
that it far excelled the Oberammer-
gau production. The wealthy people
of Selzacl. after the successes of 1888
at once began the creation of a fund
for The erection of Passion Play
theater. The construction of the build
ing is quite different from the ordin-
airy playhouse being designed to meet
the peculiar demands of the plays to
be produced.
The stage is in the open air, where all
the spectacular effects oaa be fully re-
allied The auditorium, however. is
covered and fashioned much after the
plan of the ordinary theater. It will
seat 1000 people The parts Designed
for the orchestra and choruses are quilt
after the plan of the Wagner thester
of Bayreuth. They are beneath the
stage surface, and entirely ont OF sight
OF the spectators This arrangement
intensifies the Spectacular features Of
the production, the music seeming to
come up out OF the ground.
1T will take six hours Il, produce the
play. allowing for a half hours inter-
mission for luncheon. This necessirates
the beginning of the performance at IA
a. m, and concluding at 5 p. m. Next
Sunday the first presentation Will be
made, and the play will be enacted on
every succeeding Sunday until Saptem-
ber The only week day on which it
will be given is Thursday, Aug. 10, the
Festival of the Assumption.
Two hundred musicians, singers and
actors take part in the performance.
The music is by the German composer,
FL. It. Mueller, and the play is divided
into two parts, one occupying the morn
ing session, and the second taking up
the afternoon session.
The scenes of the morning session
are largely taken from the Old Tesla
ment, the first picturing the life OF
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Their flight from the garden is shown.
The murder of Cain, Jacobs dream,
Joseph in Egypt. the finding of Moses
as Il babe and the giving of the laws OF
Moses on Mount Sinai are all present
ed with truthful allegiance to the Bib
Heal descriptions.
The birth of Christ is beautifully pro-
llucellg When the Three Wise Men en-
ter the hut dazzling radiance of light
shows the infant Christ, with Mary
seated at the foot of the crib. Stand
ing by is Joseph with folded hands
and with soft music rising from the
sunken orchestra and singers. The