Bisbee daily review., 1912-03-17
REAL LETTERS
 PASSION PLAY
Efforts of Missionaries to Secure Converts Are Aided by the
 Performance
SCENE ON ISLAND

HONGKoNG. March l6-Every-
 body knows about the decennial Pas
 sion Play at Oberammergau. It is,
 perhaps, the most written and talked
 about performance that has ever been
 staged. Even the annual pageants
 put on during Holy week in certain of
 the Italian, Spanish and South Amer
 fcan theatres have attained to consid
 erable publicity in other parts of the
 world: but the Passion Play of the
 French mission at Hiva-ca the largest
 .sland of the Maruesss -roup, nas
 never been witnessed by over score
 of nonresident white men, and as
 consequence the fame of it, except
 such hay versions as have found
 their way to Europe through the chan
 nels of the missionary society records.
 scarcely reaches beyond the coral
 reefs that fringe the islands rocky
 shores.
 The Passion Play at Hiva-ca has
 been presented every Easter for near ly fifty years lt was inaugurated Tn
 the first place as part of campaign
 prosecuted by the Catholics to win
 converts from the Protestants, who had preceded them in the field by sew
 eral years. and in its initial presen-
 tation all the roles were taken by
 French missionaries gathered from all
 parts of the society group and brought
 to the Marquesas in a fleet or trad
 ing schooners especially chartered for
 the occasion. The following year nu- merous minor parts were given to na' tives as rewards for becoming con verts to Catholicism. and before many | seasons had gone by even the leading parts came to be taken by the say ages, the missionaries contentlng themselves with such positions as stage manager, musical director, etc In Natural Amphitheatre
 The Passion Play is presented to- day in the same place that the first l perrormance by the missionaries was staged. sort of natural amphitheatre m the very heart of the Catholic re- serve in the native village of Hiya-ca The mission buildings, low rambling structures of coral blocks and galvan- ized iron. flank two sides of pentas- onaI inclosure. Two other sides are sbut in by closeset rows of banyans of such size that their roots ana down-reaching branches minele to form almost solid wooden terraces upon which hundreds of spectators may find seats without crowdin2- The stage is a hard-packed piece of ground sloping gently down to crys- tai clear stream of water which me | anders past, sparkling in the sunlight | like a row of foothghts. the position of which il approximately occupies. | Behind the stage is a creeper-coVered wall of rock, with a face unbrohen | and sheed. To the left is down Ia roola. the name of the little stream, and to the right is up Taroola. Ac- 1 tors waiting in either wing are screen | cd from the sight of the audience by the ends of the rows Of banyans which run close down to the stream on both sides.
 The music is furnished by sig f. | ly wheezy organ. clarionet and lot 4 of hollow tree tomtoms, and to the stirring strains of the Marselllalse played by this orchestra the perform | ance begins with the tableau Of Christ \ middle of the stage. Then Christ | and the Children Of course, there is no curtain, and no ringing up' | Christ simply strolls in from up Ia l roo-la, and the children troop m rom down Ta-roola and they meet In tne mats all on the head, and they He | off behind him as he makes his exit Pearl Divers Role
 | There are no stage settings, and lit tie attempt is made in the way O. 1 makeup. The children are simply children and Christ is simply, well ! for the last fifteen years he has been | Lurau. I.urau is the greatest pear l diver and shark fisher in all the Mar 1 quesas. He owes the distinguished