Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-10-13
THE PASSION PLAY"
An Impressive Religious Memo
rial As Seen By An Annap-
OIitan
A DRAMATIC SPECTACLE
Intense Interest In A Religious Classic
The Marvel of The Age


going to the Passion Play. / was
rather curious to see it but expected
to find it inspired by nothing more
divine than the soul of P. T. Barnum.
The day before we left Munich for
J Oberammagau we were urged by ar
I-American woman to dispose of our
tickets. She had gone to the preced-
ing performance, stayed two hours
} and returned very supercilious.
There must be a wide diversity in
Imental attitudes 1t seems to be
now almost superfuous to dwell on
the magnificent costumes, the beau
tiful music, the skill with which
the tableaux were arranged and the
marble immobility of the figures, or
the wonderful mob effects in which,
as in the scene before Pilots house,
six hundred men, women and chill
dren surged across the stage, answer
ing Pilots appeals with Cruelty
Him." A like, murmuring, swaying
mob, not the little flock of "supes"
we are familiar with, who spas
medically burst into noise. But
these are externals. The vital point
is the unquestionable sincerity of the
players, and it is that which tides
them over the perils of their work
and makes it grip that vast audience.
Necessarily, the entire performance
had to be kept at the highest emo
tional pitch, and there is always that
every step from the sublime to the
ridiculous. That misstep was never
made.
Whether or not it was due to this
tremendous sincerity of the players
combined with the pathos of the Cos
pei narrative, the effect, at any rate,
is the highest type of acting. A
professional might say, for exam
pie, that Mary Magdalen should
have put her left hand so, and her
ri ght hand so, in certain movement,
or that the players did not seem to
realize the necessity of making the
conventional balk and gesture at
their exits, thus showing that they
had never had the advantage of a
Broadway training. That, of course,
is calamitous, but happily Broadway
and Oberammagau are very far apart.
On the other hand, German major
from Berlin who sat at our table as
sured me that he had seen the finest
dramatic talent in the Empire, but
never more finished acting than that
of these Oberammagau players.
The part of Christus presented
difficulties, but who could find fault
with the calm dignity of Anton
Lang's portrayal? Judas was a
splendid bit of character work, the
Judas of Johann Twink being not a
monster of treachery, but a very
human disciple gone wrong, for
whose remorse and tragic end one
could feel nothing but pity. Oddly
enough. Zwink's daughter, Ottilie,
is the Mary. Her voice had a
thrilling note of pathos that found
instant response. During the part
ing scene at Bethany, it seemed as
if the entire audience sobbed to-
gether. The same German major,
who looked like the Bismarkian
type of "blood and iron." owned
up frankly that he held his opera
glasses to his eyes to try to hide
his tears, but that they would roll
down over his cheeks in spite of
himself.
| While emphasis is usually laid on
the crucifixion itself, to me such
scenes as that of the parting at Beth
any Just referred to, the Last Sup
per, with it's sadness and foreboding,
the anguish of the Garden of Geth.
semane, with the infinite pathos in
the cry Gould We not watch with me
L ofa04snn ho-
cause in these the tragedy was men
tai and spiritual and seemed very
real. The physical suffering in the
scourging and crucifxion scenes one
knew to be not real in the represen-
tation and, after all, not to be CON-
pared in actually with the anguish
of the spirit. In the crucifxion it.
self it was Mary's piteous wall at
the foot of the cross, and the "Eloi,
eloi, lama subacthanil" that stirred
the heart more than the crown of
thorns or the pierced hands and feet.
| The acting in the Passion Play
made the humanity of the story more
appealing than any other method of
presentation could have done. The
conduct of the high priests and
Pharisees in mistaking their selfish
ness for zeal in the service of Je-
hovah, Peters denial, the cowardice
of the disciples, the treachery of
Judas, all appeared part and par
eel of miserable human weakness,
to which anybody in the same cir
cumstances would be liable.
The astonishing fact about the Pas
sion Play is that every detail of it is
Ia product of Oberammagau; not
only the acting, but the text, music.
scene painting, stage direction, CO.'S
tune designing and making
thing. And this is village of bare
tly /, 500 souls All the sneers that
the Passion Play is 'commercialized
by the villagers, come either from
ignorance or a desire to criticise.
| For Thomas Cook & Sons, of course,
the play means big business. l was
told that out of all the money the
tourists pay for their lodging, a
large share must be turned back, if
the accommodations have been enjoy
ed through them. But it must be
said, in justice, that the agency has
so systematized matters as to make
it possible for the village to enter
tain patches of 1000 visitors four
or five times a week. Never have
the crowds been so well handled or so