Theatre and Theology: Performing the Passion

This time next year, in the spring of 2020, many men in the German village of Oberammergau will be in desperate need of a visit to the barber-shop. Their long hair and beards are, indeed, part of a fashion trend—one established over 400 years ago, when Oberammergau first began staging its famous Passion Play. The performance, which has occurred every 10 years since the 17th century, is the town’s lasting legacy of gratitude to God—and it’s part of a greater history of honoring the Easter mysteries with theatre.

Though it’s difficult to imagine watching a play during Mass today, such performances were common in Europe (especially Germany) in centuries past. These began around the 11th century as small dramatizations of key moments in the Gospels—like the women discovering Jesus’ empty tomb, or Sts. Peter and John running to confirm the news of the Resurrection. As the plays became longer and more dramatic, they moved out of the Mass, from the Church to the town. Understandably, both the audience (laypeople) and the performers (usually clerics) were drawn to the stories surrounding the Passion. These were the topics of many plays.

Elaborate performances like these fit well into the Catholic tradition, which seeks to captivate not only the soul, but also the senses. Jesus told the doubting St. Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (Jn 20:29). Though Catholics born after the Resurrection necessarily “see” by faith and not by sight, the Church has encouraged many ways of engaging

Article source: https://www.thetorchbc.com/2019/02/28/theatre-and-theology-performing-the-passion/