Impassioned: "Filled with or showing great emotion....." not perhaps the first thing that comes to a person's mind when hearing that we've signed up for "The Oberammergau Play Of The Passion Of Jesus Of Nazareth - the "Passion Play" which is staged once every ten years by the good burgers of the Bavarian village of Oberammergau.

Just a little bit of background: After being kept at bay from 1631, "pestilence" (actually the plague) was brought into a super-spreader event (actually the church fair) in the village of Oberammergau by one Kaspar Schisler in 1632. "In their sorrow over the suffering this terrible disease had brought to the community, the leaders of the community came together and made a vow to hold the Passion Tragedy every ten years, and from that time not a single person died". (Lifted from the Prelude to the Play's text book given to all ticket holders). I'll leave our readers to reflect on any similarities they might see to events of the past couple of years!

Ironically, this era's version of the "pestilence' delayed this Passion Play cycle by two years. But it's now back in full swing, with several performances each week between May and October. The theatre holds around 6000 people under cover although the stage itself is somewhat open to the elements. During recent cycles, much of the audience have been foreign tourists, particularly Americans but the numbers are supposedly down this year largely because of the war in Ukraine. The mostly "elderly" crowd at our performance seemed to be predominantly Germans and Americans.

The Play which is performed more like an oratory runs for a little over eight (yes 8!) hours, although not quite as challenging as that sounds - it's actually two, two and a half hour segments with a three hour dinner break. There is a cast of hundreds, including children, babies, sheep, goats, pigeons, horses, camels and the donkey on which Jesus first appears, as well as an amazing choir and soloists. It is of course entirely in German, but surprisingly easy to follow along using the English language "text book" which includes the complete script

So is it worth it? A resounding....YES!! The production, staging, acting and singing are truly stunning. The speed and efficiency of the set changes are breathtaking, even more so the set piece "tableaux" (or "presentations" as they're referred to) depicting various biblical stories (photography is discouraged but I did take a few of the tableaux). Whether or not you're a "believer" is frankly neither here nor there. It would be hard indeed not to be super impressed by the spectacle that is the Passion Play

And just to add to the spectacle, a thunder storm starting rolling in during the final 30 minutes of the production. And I kid you not - the first flash of lightening streaked across the night sky above the stage just as Jesus was being crucified.....