Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1910-10-12
THE PASSION PLAY"
An Impressive Religious Memo
rial As Seen By An Annap-
OIitan
A DRAMATIC SPECTACLE
Intense Inferest In A Religious Classic
The Marvel OF The Age


before a performance Yet we saw
more Germans and French than we
had expected, because all foreigners
who haunt the place assure you with
great contempt that the Passion Play
is only for the Americans and Eng
| lish. Oddly enough, the great Cath.
Ollie communities like Italy, Austria
and Spain send very few or no visi-
tors to Oberammagau. Yet Oberam-
magau is and always has been, de-
vo1tly Catholic, and the famous play
has the sanction of the Pope. Prob
ably nine-tenths Of the attendance is
composed of Protestants from the Uni
ted States, North Germany and Eng
land. Nowadays you see even Amer
lean Jews.
At 5 o'clock next morning everyone
was awakened by the church bells
summoning the performers to the early
mass, which always precedes the
play. BY 6 80 there was brisk bust
| ness doing in the post card shops ;
/ breakfast followed at z, and in an
| other half hour crowds were gather
| ing about the doors of the theatre.
Il
sides of the theatre for its entire
length were divided into entrances
| corresponding with certain blocks of
| seats. You had only to look at your
ticket to know which door to enter.
This arrangement made the seating
| of that crowd rapid and easy, and
was also the most practical safeguard
| in case of fire. The theatre did not
appear so large as it needed to be to
that four thousand, possibly on &C.
count of its unusual width, which cor
| responded with the long line of the
| stage.
The stage setting is clearly descend
ed from the mystery plays of the
| middle ages. A large central struc-
| ture like the front of a Greek tenn
| pie, is rooted over and provided with
| curtain and drop On the (pediment)
| is painted an assortment of saints
and divinities, with God tn Father
| in the centre, represented in medieval
| lyle as a solemn. old gentleman with
| luxuriant whiskers- This central
| building serves for the tablauX, all
| the indoors scenes, and some of the
smaller outdoors scenes as well. On
| each side of it are streets leading
| to the open stage in front. These
serve as the usual exit and entrance.
At the extreme left and right are
steps leading to balcony and door
way. The one on the left serves at
| certain times as the house of Plate,
| the opposite one as that of Caiaphas.
but regularly both are used as the
l entrances and exits for the chorus.
| Except for these balconies and the
central building, the entire stage is
open to the sky.
This exposure means no little
hardships for the performers, be-
cause good weather is exceptional.
During the first performance on
May 10 they had to endure a squall
of snow that packed down ankle deep
on the stage, and they have been
drenched at almost every perform
ance since. More than once they
Ihave been pelted by hailstones.
The wide arch of open sky just
lover the stage is trying to the eyes
of an auditor, unless he follows the
general practice of seeing the play
with an eye shade. But this open
air effect has many advantages.
The use of ordinary daylight fol-
the stage helps to the sense of
naturalness and directness in the
play itself. It allows the mountain
breezes to stir in and about the
cloudy packed theater. and the back
ground of mountains and sky that
rises above the structure of the stage
adds a suggestion of dignity that nc
painted scenes could approach. There
are also wide shutters on the sides
which are raised when the weather
uermits, and, as an added touch oil
airiness, the birds fly in and out dur
ing the performance and twitter in
the great arches of the auditorium
Promptly at s o'clock the orchestrs
began the overture. Two long lines
| of singers, in resplendant Oriental
robes, filed out of the balconies anc
met in the centre, forming a line
that stretched the length of the stage
The Passion Play had begun. There
were. of course, inconsiderate people
who arrived late and women who re
fused at first to remove their hats
but they were not numerous enough
to make serious disturbance. From
the first notes of the violins, thai
hacked auditorium had its attention
riveted, on the stage. There was nc
empty seat and numbers We're glaC
to be allowed to stand near the doors
The Passion Play took from TO
liz and from to 6, and you can't de
scribe in detail an all-day affair,
suffice to say that there are three
general divisions, music and recita'
tive. rendered by the orchestra ant
chorus; the tableaux, which are rep
reservations of Old Testament storie:
taken to pre- figure incidents of The
Passion Week, and the representation
of those incidents themselves. The
tableaux are given before the scenes
they are supposed to prefgure, anC
the chorus, led by "Prolog" ant
"Charades, explains the signifi
canoe of each picture. The story
of the play begins with the tri
umphal entry of Christ into Jerusa
lem with the crowd spreading pain
branches and garments before Hin
and chanting hossanas. Step by stel
the Scripture narrative is followed
| till it ends with the ascension. Thl
Hines of the play were spoken so dis
tinctly that if one understood German
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