Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-09-02
IN W0RKADAY LIFE
Scenes In the Village of the
Passion Players.
ACTORS At CLOSE RANGE
In Home Of Johann Twink, Who
PortrsyS Judas.
GENTLE, RELIGIOUS PEOPLE
Tortuous Streets Full Of Little Shops
and Some Big 0nss-White
Houses With Red Roofs
GENTLE, RELIGIOUS PEoPLl

when tho weekly performance Oh the
play is over and the crowds Of strangers
who have thronged the village have most
~ departed Oberammergau settles down
again to its ordinary workaday life.
writes Archibald Marshall in the London
Mail
1t Is a fascinating place One calls 1t a
village because II Is impossible to think
OF 1t as q town. In spite Of Its 1,65O In
habitants. 1t seems to be built anyhow.
and although 1 have been walking about
it for nearly q week I hardly yet know
where am II lose sight OF certain well
known landmarks. The houses are white.
with deep-browed red roofs. Many OF
them are gayly painted, not only as to
their woodwork and with quaint devices
around windows and doors. but with pic
lures. sacred or profane. and one Of them
has the whole of its wall space decorated
In this way with frescoes done a hundred
years ago by a great master In the art.
The tortuous streets are full OF little
shops and some big ones. In most OF
which carvings are displayed for sale. and
In this festival year there are temporary
booths besides, for the sale OF postcards
or other things that the modern traveller
has need OF. The Rocky mountains. cloth
ed with dark pines and still in part snow
covered, rise on either side. and on the
summit Oh the nlSHSSS pc6A - iii
enormous wooden cross so far above
you that II looks as IL 1t were made of
matchwood.
Courteous and Gentle
As you walk about the streets and
the country roads almost every one
you meet halls you with q "Gruss
Gott!" and the men and boys raise
their green. feathered hats. They are
the most courteous and gentleman
nered people I have ever met, and
think the most truly religious. You
soon get used to the long hair Of the
men, even when you see 1t on the
road-sweepers. This morning I passed
Barabbas sweeping . road as I walked
out into the country. He was smoking
a long china pipe. and he looked up.
took of his hat; and gave me his
preston. The true Oberammergauer
never cuts his hair. When the Passion
Play" was interrupted In 1870 by the
Franco-Prussian war those who were
liable for military service had to go.
hair long. Nineteen Of those who
were to have taken part in the Pas
sion Play" never came back.
1t is worth while staying in Ober-
ammergau for a day or two before or
players going about their daily work.
You recognize a girl who serves you in
a shop smiling German fraulein
with her fair hair neatly platted-as
one OF the sweet singers in the choir
Of Guardian Angels" when she wore
a robe Of gold and purple over her
white, girdled garment. and her hair
fell from beneath her crown to below
her waist. An urchin padding in the
with arms outstretched for full two
minutes in one Of the tableaux and
never stirred. At the blacksmith's
forge a man with q noble. classical
ing a horse. Yesterday he was for the
third time leader Of the chorus.
kingly figure In gold crown and scar
let robe. with a fine voice and a splen-
did dignity Of bearing ;. Everywhere
long hours Of the performance they
have stamped themselves In your
memory; only 1t is sometimes a little
difficult at first to recognize In their
work stained clothes the richly CARRIED,
impressive figures OF the play.
/. Home Of Johann Twink.
was taken to the house Of Johann
Twink and we were shown into q bright
ly painted room with an old porcelain
stove In the corner. prepared for the ac-
commodation OF expected visitors. A
sweet-faced young girl who had opened
the door to US talked with US for a little
and then said she would 60 and fetch her
father.
She was Ottilie Twink, who takes the
part OF Mary, the mother of Jesus. She
Is not yet twenty. but she is already
spoken Of as one of the best representa-
tives OF her difficult part that the play
has ever had. She Is the Mater Dolorosa,
her voice full Of piercing sorrow and her
eyes OF tears.
-.
haired man. with a kindly, somewhat
pathetic face. He Ia a house painter and
he apolostzed for the state Of his work.
ing clothes. He has gone through many
, and only a week or two ago
less invalid for ten years. He had been
the Isaac in the tableaux OF 1000, and II
Is said that he had contracted the rheu-
matte fever from which he died by sleep
ing on damp hay when all the beds in
his fathers house were given up to the
visitors.
As a young man Johann Twink twice
played the part Of the Apostle John He
Passion Play as Prince Of Wales IN
1880 This year. for the third time, he is
taking the part Of Judas.
Zwink's Wonderful Performances.
His is a wonderful performance. He
comes in first with the other disciples
who surround their Master in His trf-
umphal entry into Jerusalem. You would
hardly notice him. He Is one OF the
group. But in the house of Simon. when
the Magdalene anoints the head and feet
OF Christ. he begins to make his mark
He stares In q puxsled. startled way at
the waste and grumbles at II. But there
is no wickedness apparent in him yet He
is the treasurer Of the little society, anx-
ious for the morrow.
When he next appears. on the road to
Jerusalem. he seems little detached
from the rest: his faith in the future is
weakening. But. Master" he says, III
Thou are really about to leave us, make
some provision for US. See here, there is
not enough for one day more; and when
he Is left alone he makes up his mind to
withdraw. He Is tired OF hoping and
waiting for glories to come, and II seems
now as IL he and his fellows will only be
prosecuted and thrown into prison. The
dispossessed traders come upon him In
his Master Is to be found and SO reap
the reward offered by the sanhedrin.
THAT ~ no betrayal" he says to him
self when they have left him.
Then we see him at the last supper, sit
ting wrapped up In his suspicious
thoughts. his back half turned to the rest.
Unwillingly. almost snatching at them,
then the sop. after which he goes out
quickly. When he appears before the |
sanhedrin to claim his reward the good
Nicodemus rebukes him with hot indig- |
nation.
Betrayal by Judas
He stands trembling, but the silver