- Key People:
- Otto Devrient
- Arnoul Gréban
- Related Topics:
- dramatic literature
- tazia
- religious drama
Passion play
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What is a passion play?
A Passion play is a dramatic presentation that originated in the Middle Ages. It portrays the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Early versions incorporated readings from the Gospel alongside poetical sections. Over time, these plays evolved, with vernacular languages and additional scenes from the Old Testament and the Last Judgement being added.
Though Passion plays were once popular across Europe, many declined by the 16th century due to secular influences and suppression by religious authorities. The most renowned Passion play still performed today is the Oberammergau play in Bavaria, which has been presented every 10 years since 1634, with few exceptions.
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What story is usually told in a passion play?
Passion plays are religious dramas that originated in the medieval period. They depict the suffering, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Early versions incorporated readings from the Gospel, with added poems about Christ's Passion, Mary Magdalene’s life, the raising of Lazarus, the Last Supper, and the Virgin Mary's lament. Over time, these plays evolved, with vernacular languages and additional scenes from the Old Testament and the Last Judgment.
Passion plays are performed with local variations in Spain, Italy and other places. The most famous passion play that has survived into the 21st century is the one performed at Oberammergau, in the Bavarian Alps.
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How are passion plays different from other types of drama?
Passion plays are religious dramas from the medieval period that focus on the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These plays originated from readings of the Gospel, which included poetical sections on Christ's Passion, Mary Magdalene’s life, the raising of Lazarus, the Last Supper, and the Virgin Mary's lament.
Passion plays differ from other types of drama because of their specific religious subject matter, originally intended to share the drama of the Resurrection with the audience. Over time, they evolved to include a wide range of biblical stories and characters, often performed in the vernacular by local guilds. Comic characters and local traditions were incorporated into the plays, but many were later suppressed due to secular influences.
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Where and when did passion plays first become popular?
Passion plays are religious dramas that originated in the Middle Ages, depicting the suffering, death, and Resurrection of Christ. Early forms involved readings from the Gospel with added poetical sections and were performed in Latin.
The use of vernacular languages led to independent plays, with the earliest examples in German. These plays were initially preludes to the Resurrection. The introduction of figures like Satan and scenes from the Old Testament led to cyclic plays.
France saw the rise of Passion plays from narrative poems in the 13th century, with performances becoming elaborate and lasting for days. Confraternities, such as the Confrérie de la Passion (1402), were founded to perform these plays. By the 16th century, many Passion plays had become secularized, leading to their suppression.
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What are some traditional ways passion plays are performed?
Passion plays, which originated in the Middle Ages, traditionally dramatize the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These religious dramas evolved from simple readings of the Gospel with added poetical sections to elaborate vernacular plays.
Performances occurred within the church, with priests and clerics costumed in church vestments. Over time, performances moved outside the church, and laypeople took over the productions. Craft guilds became responsible for the staging and dressing of these productions, which led to more ornate and ambitious scenic plans. The plays were presented on decorated platforms or mobile pageant wagons that moved around the town, stopping at stations to perform for different groups of spectators.
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How have passion plays influenced modern theater or culture?
Passion plays are religious dramas from the medieval period that depict the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. These plays originated from interpolations of vernacular language into readings from the Gospel and other related subjects. Over time, they evolved into independent vernacular plays and cyclic plays similar to the Corpus Christi cycles.
Passion plays have faced suppression and secularization, but the most famous one to survive is performed every 10 years in Oberammergau, in the Bavarian Alps. Though some find anti-Semitic overtones in the play's text, traditional Passion plays have been revived in other villages, and modern plays have been written, demonstrating the genre's lasting influence on theater and culture.
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Passion play, religious drama of medieval origin dealing with the suffering, death, and Resurrection of Christ. Early Passion plays (in Latin) consisted of readings from the Gospel with interpolated poetical sections on the events of Christ’s Passion and related subjects, such as Mary Magdalene’s life and repentance, the raising of Lazarus, the Last Supper, and the lament of the Virgin Mary. Use of the vernacular in these interpolations led to the development of independent vernacular plays, the earliest surviving examples being in German. Such plays were at first only preludes to dramatic presentations of the Resurrection. The introduction of Satan (which became typical of German and Czech plays), and thus of introductory representations of the fall of Lucifer and the Fall of Man (as in the early 14th-century Vienna Passion), and of scenes from the Old Testament and of the Last Judgment, led to development of cyclic plays similar to the Corpus Christi cycles. The great Celtic Passion cycles of Cornwall and Brittany, and the St. Gall Passion play (which begins with the entry of St. Augustine, who introduces the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs, and also includes the marriage at Cana), exemplify this type of Passion play.
The Tirol plays early formed a separate group, representing only scenes from the Passion and Resurrection. The Bohemian plays, such as the St. Eger Passion, developed from a simpler version of the Vienna Passion, were also distinct in style and incident.
The earliest Passion plays of France and Flanders are thought to have their source in a nondramatic narrative poem of the 13th century, the Passion des jongleurs. These plays became highly elaborated in the course of their development, culminating in performances (Mons, 1501; Valenciennes, 1547) lasting more than a week. Confraternities were founded for performance of Passion plays, the most famous being the Confrérie de la Passion (1402). Passion plays were also performed in Spain, Italy, and elsewhere, with local variations.
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By the 16th century, many of the Passion plays, debased by secular influences, had degenerated into mere popular entertainments, full of crude slapstick and buffoonery. Many were forbidden by ecclesiastical authorities, and many more were suppressed after the Reformation.
The most famous of the Passion plays to survive into the 21st century is that performed at Oberammergau, in the Bavarian Alps. According to tradition, the play has been presented every 10 years since 1634, in fulfillment of a vow made after the village was spared an epidemic of plague (shifting to decennial years in 1700), except in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War and World War II, when religious plays were banned, and in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains an entirely local production, with villagers taking all the parts and singing in the chorus. Since 1930 roofed seats have protected the audience from the weather. The production runs from May through September. Some villagers and some Jewish organizations have protested anti-Semitic overtones in the 1860 text. Traditional Passion plays have also been revived in villages in the Austrian Tirol. In northern Spain, during Lent and Holy Week, a Catalan Passion play is performed by villagers; and in Tegelen, in the Netherlands, a modern play by the Dutch poet Jacques Scheurs is given every five years.