The Irish standard., 1905-10-28
PASSION PLAY
Mrs. W.. Bryan Writes of Scenes
at 0berammergau.
None But the Pure Are Allowed
to Participate.

OF Oberammergau in 1900, says Mrs
w. j. Bryan in the Commoner Every
magazine and many newspapers gave
Il; tailed accounts Of the wonderful
Passion Play enacted there and of the
thousands VINO nockcd to witness it
Each writer emphasized the fact thai
only once in ten years is the Passion
RAY presented. You may imagine my
delight to learn that this year an ex-
ctp ilon had been made and that some
ming worth While was doing at Ober-
iaMnnergau.
! he village lies quite encircled by
mount aims and no railroads have vet
ventured there. The outer world of this
little place until twenty or thirty years
ago. Then the newspaper mel raised
il mighty shout Come quick said
they, we have found something so OLD
that it is very new indeed Nearly a
thoG sand years ago England saw our
C.."i:i live and die and live again in
thfse strange plays. Long after, Ger
Mays peasants wondered and wept at
| the same sights. But they all forgot.
Only little Oberammergau remembered.
Come and see living fragment of the
long dead past" And come thew did,
The rich, the poor, the ignorant, the
learned, the priest, the scoffer poured
through the mountain passes and broke
the quiet of the valley. Oberammergau
awolSe and learned about the world.
The village shows the trace of for
eign fingers. Old Gasthauses are slyly
growing into large hotels; the shop
windows are full of souvenirs for trav
elers; the girls are often not in
peasant dress; the young men wear
their curls with more jaunty air.
Are you wondering, as 1 did, why
the peasants play this year? High
above the town on a mountain side
stands the answer; the three figures of
the crucifixion done in white marble
and of gigantic size. This group was
given to Oberammergau by King Lud-
wig, the Second. thirty years ago this
summer The play which we see was
given then in honor Of the king and of
his gift and is now repeated for the
first time on this the anniversary of
that occasion. The play tells the story
of King David and between acts,
tableaux from the Passion Play are
presented, SO that when the curtain
goes down on the final act one feels
that he has seen not only the life OIL
David but the real pith of the Passion
Play as well.
l wish I might give you a clear idea
of the stage. had gathered from read
ing that it was huge platform with
the open sky and twitterng birds with
the audience also under the canopy of
heaven; out this is not altogether
true.
Imagine a huge shedlike building
with curving roof. All Lincoln read
ers will be interested to know that the
general shape of the interior of the
building, the girders and the roof are
an excellent counterpart of the Lincoln
Auditorium. Here are 81 ats for four
thousand people, The fl Or slopes to
the front, the orchestra sits in neat
little box next to the stage, all quite
a
building scented the fruits of the for
eign invasion. In the good old days
the peasants surely did not fare so
well. The stage is a large platform,
built of not too smooth planks and
open to the sky. In the center from
left to right, but at the back box
like house has been built, severely
Grecian in style. This is the real stage,
though acting is done on the platform,
the local point is always inside, and
one could see with his minds eye the
players scurrying under this shelter if
rain came. To the right and left are
porticoes and arches through which
one catches glimpses of the flat roofs
and low turrets of Jerusalem. The
stage disappointed me.
The drama is played by five hundred
performers, a chorus of thirty-two
voices and an orchestra of forty These
people all live in the little valley. They
are all peasants. The moving power is
the church (Catholic). To take part
in these plays is a great honor and can
only be undertaken by those whose
lives are pure. Zach performance is
preceded by the sacrament and If
man who has once appeared is guilty
of something dishonorable, he cannot
play when the next decade rolls around.
AS to the division of proceeds Ono
small item in these days., priest
told us that the people who play get
one-third Of the profits for division
among them and the remaining two
thirds goes to the church. In 1900 they
cleared million marks, about two hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars
The tableaux from the Passion Play
are eight in number, viz, the nativity,
the boy Christ in the temple, the temp
tation, the baptism, the trial. bearing
the cross, the crucif1xion and the resur-
rection. 1t is difficult to realize the
figures as flesh and blood; they seem
much more like wax figures mr. verv