Behind the scenes at the world’s most celebrated Passion Play

Every ten years, half the population of the mountain town of Oberammergau appears in the spectacular production

Last month a little mountain town in Germany, not far from Munich, was alive with people: hundreds of them, crowded round a noticeboard like schoolboys waiting anxiously to see the publication of examination results. But these weren’t schoolboys, and the stakes were higher than an exam grade. They were the citizens of Oberammergau, about to find out which of them had landed which roles for the Passion Play that will engulf the town in 2020 – as it did in 2010, 2000, 1990 and (with one or two exceptions and a shift in counting) every 10 years back to 1634.

It’s the most celebrated Passion Play on earth, and only people who were either born in Oberammergau or have been living there for 20 years can take part. This time around there were 2,330 applicants – roughly half the population of the town – and they will all end up onstage in some capacity or other if it’s only brandishing a spear or waving palm fronds.

Oberammergau is epic. But the key roles – Jesus, Mary, the disciples, Pilate – are the ones that everybody wants to know about. They give you television talk-show status in Bavaria. They change your life, at least for the two years

Article source: https://catholicherald.co.uk/magazine/you-can-really-feel-who-jesus-was/