Despite major concerns from the Ministry of Health and many others, the premiere of the Passion Play was able to take place on 14 May 2022, opening the series of over 100 performances. The day began in the morning with a solemn ecumenical service in the Passion Play Theatre. Cardinal Reinhard Marx and Bishop Heinrich Bedford-Strohm presided and preached in dialogue. Immediately afterwards, a large number of Oberammergau residents who had rendered outstanding services to the play in recent years were honoured. The first part of the game then began at 2.00 pm.
During the interval, Prime Minister Markus Söder and Mayor Andreas Rödl hosted a large reception in a specially erected tent for around 900 people - celebrities from the worlds of politics, culture, church and business were gathered here. Many faces familiar from television or the newspapers could be seen. Pleasantly short speeches flavoured the excellent food and the lively conversations; the table arrangement seemed well thought out; people who would otherwise hardly meet were to be brought together - for example, I was asked to sit at a table with the Bavarian Green Party celebrities, which was an interesting encounter for me.
The second part of the game then proceeded like the first with great precision, exciting and uplifting deep into the night. The premiere was a complete success! Many members of the press were there - unobtrusive and yet almost omnipresent. Everything seemed planned and yet ran as naturally as if it were an everyday occurrence, prominent and yet familiar, rurally simple and yet highly cultivated, self-confident and yet modest. The setting of the game was just as impressive as the game itself. He staged something special. Yes, the Oberammergau Passion Play is undoubtedly something special among the Passion Plays. What is the reason for this? Why do so many celebrities from at least southern Germany come? Why do thousands come from all over the world?
I think this is due firstly to the Oberammergauers and their behaviour towards the play, secondly to the character of the play itself and thirdly, at present, probably also to the messages sent out by the last productions. Let me make a few comments on these three aspects.
The Oberammergauers and their passion
The Passion Play, it seems to a stranger, is at the centre of many Oberammergau residents' interests. Everyone knows the story and feels committed to it. For many, the Passion Play offers a benefit, be it in terms of business, ideals or even just reputation. I would like to summarise this in five points.
1. history and intention
The game goes back to a vow. In 1633, the plague raged throughout the area - worse than Corona today, as there were no medical resources at all and a healthcare system in the modern sense did not exist. The plague came from a fellow citizen who had travelled home from abroad. The people sought refuge in prayer and vowed: When the dying stops, we will play the "Game of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ" every ten years. In fact, from that day onwards, no one died of the plague.
Since then, the Oberammergauers have performed the Passion of Christ every ten years. Initially, there was a purely religious interest. Performing the Passion of Christ to commemorate salvation from great hardship is based on the realisation that suffering and death appear meaningless in human terms, but through Jesus' suffering and death they take on a quality other than merely destructive; they are the path to resurrection. People back then experienced resurrection when they, living in fear of death, experienced a sudden turnaround. They played out of gratitude.
2. the passion as a source of income and as a carrier of reputation
However, people from the neighbouring villages have always come to Oberammergau and from the middle of the 18th century onwards, more and more came from further afield. The people of Oberammergau were poor. Agriculture did not yield much, and the additional source of income that had been cultivated for a long time, carving, had to be painstakingly sold. These could now be offered locally to those who came to play. In addition, those who came from afar had to stay and eat here. The hotel business and catering were two additional sources of income.
And then came tourism at the end of the 18th century. This began in Switzerland. The English came, admired and climbed the mountains, but were also attracted by the population, who were considered to be close to nature, unspoilt and, above all, freedom-loving (see the folk hero William Tell). The alpine people did not allow themselves to be oppressed by any rulers, they were not pampered by the frills of civilisation, they made their way through hard work and cultivated a folk culture that was far superior to the playful rococo fuss that was sometimes perceived as perverse. The Oberammergauers shared in this image. Word of the quality of their performances got around. And people came - more and more in the 19th century.
The playground became too small. Until then, for almost 250 years, the people of Oberammergau had played in the cemetery by the church. But then they moved the game to the place where the Passion Play Theatre stands today. They built the theatre in 1900. The long play of two times three hours in the open air was always at risk from the weather. The house made it independent of the weather.
3. the game of the whole community
From the very beginning, play has been as important in the minds and feelings of the people of Oberammergau as it still is today. In Oberammergau, everything revolves around the game. It is a game for everyone in the village. It is not the game of the parish, it is the game of the civic community. That's why everyone who was born and lives here can play. When there were almost only Catholics, it was clear that all the players were only Catholics. When Protestants arrived, they were also included. And since Muslims also live here today and some were born here, they are also part of the game. And, of course, those who have turned their backs on the church or who have never belonged to the church or who profess no religion are also part of the game. The Passion is everyone's game.
This is a requirement: All participants in the play must be Oberammergau residents and must have lived here for at least 20 years (since 1960). Some Muslims are also taking part in the current play, but they are already Oberammergau residents
- says one of the two Judas actors
and, above all, the second team leader Abdulla Kenan Karaca1. The whole thing is directed by Christian Stückl, a trained sculptor, a man of ingenious ideas and great leadership qualities.
The standing pictures and the designs for the stage and costumes were created (as in 2000 and 2010) by Stephan
Hagenauer, a carpenter from Oberammergau with a brilliant sense of art, who now designs stage sets on large stages. He had the stage remodelled for the new play so that a stylistic unity could be achieved. The music is organised and conducted (and some passages newly composed) with great professionalism by Markus Zwink from Oberammergau, who shares the conducting duties with a colleague.
When all or almost all citizens were still Catholic, it was natural for the Catholic priest as theologian or the fathers of the nearby Ettal monastery to play a leading role in shaping the text or directing the play. However, the political community and therefore also the elected representatives always had a decisive say, especially when any changes were pending or planned. And even if there were (and still are) tensions and rivalries within this community, the majority decides. The community representatives elect the game master and the troupe that organises everything. When it comes to choosing the roles, however, the elected game master has the final say (at least the last few times).
4 The influence of the church
If the priest, as already mentioned, used to be important for the game and could exert influence, this was never unquestioned. It could also lead to conflicts with the church. Since the time when more and more people came from all over the world, not only did the local priest give his placet as a theologian, but the bishop as the responsible guardian of the faith issued a missio canonica, which gave the game an official flavour, so to speak, and which was understood as a recommendation worldwide - and was therefore very effective in advertising.
In 1970, there was a major conflict between the Oberammergauers and the Munich Cardinal Julius Döpfner, the representative of the Catholic Church. There were passages in the play that could be interpreted as anti-Semitic. Döpfner demanded that these passages be changed, that the game should take into account the findings of the Second Vatican Council, that we Catholics should see Judaism in a different light than it had developed in history. But the Oberammergau mentality came through. We don't let anyone tell us anything from the outside, not even a cardinal. As a result, the cardinal refused to give the recommendatory missio canonica, i.e. he was making a statement: We, the official Catholic Church, are no longer behind the game.
And that did not prove to be beneficial. The number of visitors fell sharply. So the people of Oberammergau negotiated with the Cardinal's successor. They reached a modus vivendi for the next games. As the local priests - there was now a Protestant one as well as a Catholic one - did not agree on many things, which was a great hindrance, the following modus vivendi was agreed upon (elegantly solving this problem as well): the parish proposes three theologians to the Archbishop of Munich and Freising whom it can imagine as advisors. The bishop - in consultation with the Protestant regional bishop - selects one of these three and appoints him as an ecclesiastical advisor, who advises and ensures that the church can recommend the game.
I have been this consultant since 2000, appointed by Cardinals Wetter and Marx. And as the preparations always begin three years before the premiere, I have been involved in this play since 1997. Since in 2000 every change still had to be approved by the local council and Christian Stückl - together with Otto Huber at the time - was planning major changes to the text, the standing images and also the staging, I was able to provide theological advice and practical theological tips not only on the theological aspects of the church, but also to a greater extent to help make the innovations theologically understandable and also to help those for whom the traditional scenes were important to understand them.
There were also innovations to discuss in 2010, but the parish council had already given the director a great deal of freedom and my role was limited to providing advice in some areas - as was also necessary to an even lesser extent in 2022. Stückl himself is very well versed in theology and, as an ingenious director, has fascinating ideas that can be easily integrated into the church's theological ideas.
5. the game colours
But what else needs to be said about the people of Oberammergau is that they are not only the original, self-confident Alpine people, but many of them have a passion for playing, i.e. they have the will to express themselves artistically and thus bring quality to everyday life. This seems to be inherited. From kindergarten onwards, many prepare themselves for playing - through voice training, speech training, singing some very catchy Passion songs and much more.
To summarise, we can say that the Passion Play in Oberammergau is driven by the will of the people of Oberammergau to fulfil their vow to offer a perfect play for visitors from all over the world, to earn money in the hotel and catering industry, to sell the carvings, to promote tourism beyond the respective Passion Year and, above all, to keep the name Oberammergau known all over the world.
They achieve this not only through what has already been said, but also through perfect, long-term advertising. For example, not only are the players tested in the plague play, which is performed a year in advance, but the Passion is also widely publicised. Or the publicly announced date on which the men taking part in the play are no longer allowed to shave draws attention to the Passion. Many other media-effective announcements arouse public interest not only in the region. So much for the
first speciality of the Oberammergau Passion.
A second factor responsible for the worldwide interest in Passion is probably the special character of the game.
About the character of the game
It is a mystery play that depicts the Passion of Jesus in a dramatic and at the same time meditative way. As we have just heard, there have been and still are many Passion Plays in Europe and around the world. But the Oberammergau play differs from the others, it seems to me, by four special features inherent in the play itself.
1. drama
There is the drama of the performance. More than 600 people (1000 in pre-corona times) appear on stage at the same time several times. The sequence of scenes is designed in such a way that even those who know the content down to the last detail will still find it exciting. Combinations of words surprise, sequences of scenes hint at connections, and the familiar becomes a surprise through alienation.
2. meditative insertions
The second are the meditative, quiet interludes that give the mind space to linger and recognise what has been seen and heard as significant in itself. Such quiet spaces are created, for example, by the living pictures. Related events from earlier times, i.e. from the Old Testament, are staged by living people in the backstage, who pose silently (as in a painted picture). These images are at the same time interpretative clues for the scenic representations, placing them in the context of the history of salvation and thus foreshadowing great connections.
The simultaneous music and the meditative texts of the choir reinforce these quiet zones.
3. the music
The touching, romantically coloured music gives the work the character of an oratorio. It is of very high quality and was composed by the teacher Rochus Dedler (1779-1822). For newly staged parts of the last (three) performances, Markus Zwink, the current musical director of the choir and orchestra, has added larger passages.
4. the text
Another special feature of the Oberammergau play is the text. The basic text of the current play was written by the Oberammergau priest Joseph Deisenberger (1799-1883) around 1862. This text was only ever slightly altered in subsequent performances. But for the last three performances, Christian Stückl, who has been the play director since 1990, wanted to change larger passages. This naturally led to many discussions and arguments in Oberammergau. As a consultant, I was able to help justify the reasonableness of the changes, especially for the plays in 2000. At the same time, I was able to at least partially support the legitimate concerns of those who wanted to keep as much of the tradition as possible.
The current production also has new versions of the text, which Christian Stückl (as in the last three performances) often reformulated during rehearsals. In addition to the Oberammergauers involved, he also sought advice from representatives of (US) Jewish organisations, which is unique in the world. The representatives of world Jewry have a great interest in ensuring that the Oberammergau play (to which they attribute a world character) of all things correctly represents the religious and cultural characteristics of Jewry, so that no anti-Semitic tendencies arise - as has unfortunately happened excessively in history. In order to advance this cause, the Oberammergau team invited representatives of world Jewish organisations as early as 1990 and incorporated their suggestions to a great extent, which gives the play a special touch and also allows many Christian statements to be recognised in greater depth.
In the last few performances, this has been shown more clearly than in Passion Plays in other places: Jesus was a Jew, and the Christian salvation story continues the Jewish salvation story, indeed is part of this story, so that we must not make a distinction between the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament is also fully Holy Scripture for us Christians. The New only continues it. This is emphasised several times in the play, particularly impressively when, for example, Jewish prayer texts are prayed and sung in Hebrew, combined with the sign actions customary in Judaism.
So much for the special character of the Oberammergau Passion Play: the drama, the meditative elements, the music and the text in its Jewish-Christian balance. Now a few comments on the new production from 2022.
The 2022 game
It was a nail-biter. When Christian Stückl wanted to resume the rehearsals that had been cancelled in March 2020 (due to the coronavirus pandemic) on 6 January this year, the Bavarian Minister of Health told him the day before:
"Be prepared for the fact that you may have to rehearse in vain and that the game cannot take place again this year."
Stückl and the Oberammergau team were confident, but also cautious. Nobody was allowed to come on stage for rehearsals without a Covid test first. Of course, this was an additional burden, as one or the other was always corona-positive - even if they felt nothing or had no signs of the disease. Nevertheless, everything worked out. The premiere was on 14 May 2022. It will be performed 104 times by October. Around half a million people will see and experience it.
The postponed new production updates the drama of the events in a contemporary way. There are many reasons for this. The audience is different today than it was twenty or even twelve years ago. Many are no longer familiar with the theological details that were taken for granted back then. The issues have shifted - and are currently shifting again due to the current coronavirus experience and the war in Ukraine. As the Passion Play aims to convey the message of the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to people as an uplifting and empowering event, it must address the fears and hopes of people today. In this way, the depiction of Christ's suffering and death dramatises the questions about the meaning and future of human life.
existence into view.
The new production from 2022 illustrates important elements of the message of Jesus not only for believers or people with Christian socialisation, but also for non-church and non-Christian viewers.
A few scenes should be mentioned: As in the 2000 and 2010 games, Jesus does not immediately begin to drive the merchants and moneychangers out of the temple after entering the city and the temple, but instead first introduces himself as the Messiah who wants to renew his people religiously and raise the message of God to the centre. From the very beginning, this happens in conflict with the religious authorities.
Quotations from Jesus' discourses (especially from the Sermon on the Mount, the disputes with the Pharisees and Jesus' lamentations) as well as from other biblical passages, primarily the prophets, illustrate this basic line. This also results in a social claim that includes a commitment to a just society. However, Jesus does not (superficially) want to fulfil this politically, but religiously, which means: He does not want to change the structures, but the hearts of the people.
Only after this basic message of Jesus has become clear does he drive the merchants out of the temple, thereby cleansing the sanctuary of commerce and worldly business.
In particular, the historical situation should also become tangible, above all palpable, in the game. The Jewish people were politically and in many cases socially restricted by the Roman occupying power. From the very beginning, Roman soldiers appear (almost threateningly) and a tension smoulders in the room.
Pilate, the Roman governor, appears before the trial and puts pressure on the high priest Caiaphas, who had been entrusted with the civil authority. Pilate threatens him and accuses him of not being sufficiently vigilant. He was told to be even more careful than before to ensure external peace and quiet around the religious activities. In the trial itself, Pilate cynically mocks Jesus' powerlessness as well as the Jewish religion as a whole. "Look at this man" means: "Look at this heap of misery! Why should I have him executed? He may claim to be the King of the Jews, but he is just a powerless figure, not worth dealing with at all.
Within the High Council, the highest religious authority, the debate about Jesus' condemnation is more heated than in previous performances - even more so than in 2010. Jesus' followers step up and argue confidently against his enemies, but are defeated by the majority.
The tragic figure of Judas is also emphasised once again. He is the betrayed traitor. Caiaphas deceives him about the consequences of the betrayal. Judas only wants to force a meeting between Jesus and the high council so that Jesus' message of the kingdom of God can be promoted more politically. He regrets what he has done and throws the money, which had been forced on him not as a reward but as a bonus, into the temple. The tragedy of Judas lies in his human-religious attitude: he does not believe in forgiveness, he cannot forgive himself, does not expect forgiveness from anyone and flees to his death in despair.
A person for whom even religion is primarily just an element of political or other earthly activity fails to grasp the core of the Christian message of the All-Merciful One who gives even a traitor a chance. So Judas despairs and hangs himself. Peter is different! He also betrays Jesus, if only for tactical reasons. The production places Peter's betrayal parallel to Judas' betrayal. Peter dramatically denies Jesus so as not to get himself into trouble. When he realises his failure, he is as remorseful as Judas. He also reacts in despair at first, but remembers Jesus' words and actions. He weeps bitterly, but then leaves the stage with his head held high in the certainty that the Lord will forgive me.
A theologian may notice some other peculiarities, such as the alteration of the Lord's Prayer text and the shortening of the words of the Lord's Supper. Although this reinforces the character of a Passover meal, it hides the specifically Christian element, which may irritate a person socialised in the church, but makes it easier to understand for someone not socialised in the church than a staged praise of the eternal. However, the church-socialised viewer will automatically add what is missing, as he hears it at every mass, so that it is still present, albeit in irritation.
The resurrection production is always particularly difficult. This year, Stückl has decided to simply use the Easter Vigil liturgy.
After being mourned by his mother and the faithful who remained by the cross, Jesus is wrapped in a cloth and carried to the grave, but the tomb is not visible. This eliminates the depiction of the guards at the tomb. An angel says to the women: "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen." The Risen One does not appear (in contrast to 2000 and 2010). But the angel says to the women again: "Don't look for him here, he has risen."
Mary Magdalene takes up the angel's words and proclaims: "I know that my Saviour lives!" The disciples light their candles at the light carried by the angel. This restrained pictorial staging, which aims to emphasise the character of the numinously incomprehensible Holy One, is balanced by the great Easter music, which even replaces other images. As they leave the stage, the congregation of believers testifies that the one whose death we have witnessed so dramatically is alive. The last scene thus emphasises what theology says: the resurrection, only marginally tangible in history, is a "mystery of faith".
These few references to the current production may make it clear: The play is not primarily concerned with staging biblical accounts and stories, but (as a fifth gospel, as it were) with conveying important Christian messages that affect the present, indeed the core Christian message itself, which should apply to all people. Through Christ, suffering and death can be categorised differently; Jesus' resurrection gives hope for a lasting future.
Conclusion
As in previous decades, the people of Oberammergau have tackled the Passion Play of 2022 with great commitment. They feel it is their duty to honour the vow of their ancestors in a way that corresponds to the meaning of the promise made at the time, namely to strengthen confidence and (Christian) faith in a lasting future. The play is therefore by no means a "museum-like popular theatre". It is a "theatre of the people for the people" that aims to convey hope.
