“PASSION PLAY 2010″

Passion Play 2010 - Event of the Decade

The Passion Play is performed every 10 years in the city of Oberammergau, Germany. Nestled in a high Alpine valley in Bavaria, Oberammergau provides a breathtaking setting. The village has a long tradition of wood carving. The streets of central Oberammergau have impressive buildings as well as dozens of woodcarver shops with items such as toys and religious objects. According to the vow, all the actors, must be born in Oberammergau. Townspeople wrote score and designed and built the theatre. Long hair and beards are grown for years for the occasion. More than a thousand elaborate, colorful costumes add to the tradition-rich presentation.

The Play takes place in a covered auditorium with an open-air stage, built in 1930 to insure performance regardless of weather conditions. The open-air stage design creates a backdrop of green fields, mountains and blue skies. Now, more than 2,000 citizens make up the actors, singers, instrumentalists and stage technicians that bring the play to life in approximately six hours of playing time. The year 2010 marks the 41st time the story will be presented in
Oberammergau.

The play depicts the tragic and moving chronicle of Christ’s final passion. Its history stems from 1632 when Oberammergau was gripped by a deadly plague which killed almost half of the town’s population. In a final, desperate act of faith, the village elders pledged that if the village was spared, it would re-enact the passion of Christ every 10 years - for all eternity. Miraculously the village was spared and the villagers planned the very first Passion Play in 1632.

Tradition dictates that the play’s cast of thousands is drawn from all walks of life from within the village. The coveted role of Christ could be the village postman, butcher or school teacher. The cast spend almost two years painstakingly rehearsing every detail of the story for a once only performance of a lifetime. Read more