The Arvada enterprise., 1910-10-28

to his mother and gently inspires
in her the strength and fortitude
which she will so much need.
There are SO many scenes that
impressed me deeply that it is
difficult to say which is the great
est. The scene of the Last Sup
per follows in minute detail the
famous painting of Leonardo di
Vinci that | saw in Milan: Judas
sits sullen and scowling through
the whole proceedings with his
back half turned on the COM
pany.> The washing of the disci-
pies feet by Jesus was a very
impressive scene with the Holy
Communion that followed.
These villagers are natural ac-
tors. Anton Lang as Christ fills
his part with that calm impress
sive simplicity so characteristic.
Mary the mother is all that one
may we'll wish; her voice is clear
and musical, yet full of pathos
and motherly affection. The
part of John the beloved is we'll
taken by a young Ammergauer
nineteen years of age; his face is
truly beautiful and his affection
for Christ is tenderly shown.
The. best actor / think is Johann
Twink who plays the difficult
role of Judas. He is a man of
SO years of age and has been in
the play for four successive sea-
sons, three times playing the
part of Judas and in 1880 the
character of John; his daughter
plays the part of Mary the Mo-
ther. His most effective scene
is the one in which Judas is over
whelmed by despair and remorse
having betrayed his Master for
thirty pieces of silver. The
scene is shown where Judas ends
his life by hanging himself. The
curtain is dropped after he has
tied the cloth around his neck
and to the tree and is just in the
act of swinging off. Johann
Twink the Judas so abandons
himself and becomes the charac-
ter that one day after the cur
tain had dropped Judas actually
swung himself out and had to be
rescued.
The setting of rocks and trees
for the scene of Christ and the
DIS s:iples in the garden of Geth-
semane, is very realistic. The
trial and condemnation of Christ
brings before us the methods of
centuries ago in the Orient; the
crown of thorns is placed in ridi-
cule on Christ's head and the
reed given for a sceptre. The
cross bearing to Calvary was pa
thetic as the Christ, goaded on by
the bowling populace, falls faint
and exhausted under the weight
of his burden.
Perhaps the most realistic scene
is the Crucifiixon. AS the cur
tain rises one sees the two up
right crosses with the suspended
thieves and to the cross lying on
the ground, Christ has just been
nailed. Then the cross is raised
and put firmly in its place; this
scene is so full of pathos so redo
lent with compassion that it
seems the most unsympathetic
person would be moved, to pity.
The strain on Anton Lang is
very severe being suspended on
the cross for some Is or 20 min
utes. His wife told me that
there was a performance of three
successive days and the strain
was so great that Herr Lang al
most collapsed. There are marks
of red in the palms of the hands
and on the feet to represent
blood and spots of red on the
face and body. The body is up
held by grooves made in the
cross into which fit the parts of
j long vestlike corset. The scene
is patterned after Ruben's fam
Gus painting The Descent from
The Cross.
The Resurrection scene is WV
idly portrayed, soon follows the
closing tableau, one of the finest
in the play, the Ascension. The
Christ in the background is SEEM
jngly standing on and partly en-
veloped by clouds, surrounded by
the small group of people, his
immediate relatives and friends
who remained staunch and true.
The chorus bursts into triumph
ant song as the victory of life
over death and the Passion Play