Oberammergau's passion play
Bavarian village pours heart and soul into upcoming performance
Nearly 400 years ago, the people of Oberammergau made a promise — a promise they’ve kept to this day. It started in 1633, when life wasn’t so good in this Bavarian village. War, famine and poverty were raging through Central Europe. So was the dreaded plague, which finally had spread to Oberammergau.
As the death toll from the deadly epidemic climbed, desperate villagers went to church and made a vow to God: Every 10 years, they would perform a passion play depicting Christ’s last days, death and resurrection.
(Photo courtest of Oberammergau Passion Play)
PHOTO GALLERY
Scenes from Oberammergau's passion play
TICKETS: Individual play tickets (priced at $75 to $245) are no longer available, but you can still get tickets through one of the many different travel packages that include hotel accommodations.
Trans World Travel in Highland Park, for example, is selling a variety of group tour packages as well as “independent tours,” which include two nights at Oberammergau’s Hotel Wittelsbach (walking distance from the theater), breakfast, lunch, two dinners and a play ticket for $1,140 a person. A one-night version of the package is $899. Call (847) 432-2400, ext. 225.
A full list of tour operators offering travel packages can be found on the passion play’s Web site,
oberammergau-passion.com.
Oberammergau has only 1,200 hotel beds but there are enough accommodations for all theatergoers within a 20-mile radius of town.
GETTING THERE: Oberammergau is about an hour’s drive south of Munich, Germany.
HOW TO SAY IT: It’s pronounced oh-bur-om-ur-gow.
From that point on, deaths from the plague reportedly stopped, and a long-honored tradition began. The people of Oberammergau have made good on their promise every decade since (with a few exceptions due to extreme circumstances, such as world wars).
They plan to live up to their end of the bargain once again in 2010 with the 41st production of their world-famous passion play, expected to draw half a million visitors to this hamlet in southern Germany’s Ammergau Alps.
Oberammergau’s passion play is not your park district production of “The Pirates of Penzance.” The five-hour performance, held five times a week from mid-May to early October, is an event with a capital E. It brings new meaning to the term “community theater.” About 2,500 villagers — roughly half of the town’s population — are involved, whether it be as actors and orchestra members or costume and set designers.
“I was blown away,” said north suburban Mundelein resident Tom Wirtel, one of the nearly 150,000 Americans who made the trip to Oberammergau in 2000 for the most recent passion play. Wirtel is a sales manager at Highland Park’s Trans World Travel, which sells individual and group travel packages that include tickets to the play. “I didn’t anticipate that an amateur performance — even though Oberammergau has been at it for 400 years — could be so good.”
The first play took place in 1634, in a cemetery near the graves of plague victims. The current venue is an elaborate, purpose-built outdoor theater that seats 4,720 spectators.
An overhead enclosure protects the audience and 55-piece orchestra from the elements. No such luck for the actors, who perform on the massive, open-air stage regardless of the weather.
For some scenes, as many as 1,000 performers might be onstage at once. Every one of them was either born in Oberammergau or has lived there for at least 20 years — a requirement for participation. Even the dozens of donkeys, sheep and goats come from farms in the valley.
Villagers hoping for one of the play’s highly coveted lead parts gathered outside the theater earlier this year, anxiously waiting to see if their names would be the ones written on a chalkboard.
The cast is made up of carpenters, innkeepers, merchants and students. Jesus is a 32-year-old psychologist. Herod doubles as a dentist. Some participants are old enough to have been in 10 productions. One performance might include four generations of the same family.
Eva-Maria Reiser made her passion play debut in 1990 at age 5, when she was an extra in the crowd. In 2000, she played in the orchestra. Next year, the 25-year-old flight attendant takes on the role of Mary Magdalene.
The costumes, props and sets are all made in Oberammergau, known for its expertise in wood carving.
Local barbers and hairdressers seem to be the only professionals whose businesses suffer as a result of the passion play. Tradition dictates that fake beards and wigs are strictly verboten onstage. To get that biblical look naturally, performers aren’t allowed to cut their hair after Ash Wednesday a year before the show.
Next year’s passion play — debuting May 15 — will begin at 2:30 p.m., take a three-hour intermission for dinner and finish at 10:30 p.m.
“It’s in German,” play spokesman Mike Adams said. Those who don’t sprechen Deutsch can follow along with a booklet in English. “But dare I say,” Adams added, “the story is well known enough.”