PASSION PLAY POSTPONED

The Bavarian town of Oberammergau has postponed its world-famous celebration of Christ — only the fourth time in its almost 400-year history that the Passion Play will not go ahead as planned. It’s poetic, perhaps, that the reason is Covid-19, since it was a different health crisis that marked the tradition’s beginnings. In March 1633 the bubonic plague, which had begun ravaging Italy in 1629, was making its way to the other side of the Alps. Terrified, the residents of Oberammergau — on Germany’s southern edge, about 30km from the Austrian border — attempted a bargain with God. Should they be spared, they would put on a play telling the story of Jesus’ life and death — not just the once, mind you. They would do it every 10 years in perpetuity. Whether by coincidence or divine intervention, the plague largely spared the area and the villagers kept their word. The first play was put on in 1634 in the churchyard alongside the graves of those whom the plague had taken.

In the summer months of every year ending in a zero, the Passion Play went ahead, and it soon became tradition for visitors from the surrounding regions to come and see it.

The graveyard soon became too small to contain the many pilgrims — hopeful that God’s favour might fall on them too — who flocked in to watch the play as the decades passed. The first permanent stage was built in 1815 and a proper theatre, with a roof and seats, was begun in 1890. This is the same space, updated over the years, to which modern visitors go — a space that now accommodates 4,700 people.

This being 2020, the next instalment was due to run from May 16 until October 4 — five performances per week over almost five months. The season has now been pushed out to start in May 2022.

It has only been postponed or cancelled three times before. The first time, in 1770, was because of a ban on such productions imposed by Maximilian III Joseph, the then Duke of Bavaria.

In 1920, as Europe recovered from World War 1, it was put off until 1922.

And it was cancelled outright in 1940 as Word War 2 raged.

See passionsspieleoberammergau.de