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OBERAMMERGAU PASSIONSSPIELE: EXPLORING A SACRED THEATRE 4
By Jack Paterson | Part 4 of 10
Date: June 2022
Locations: Oberammergau, Germany
Activity: Intermission
There are several hours between acts, and I retrace some of my April footsteps. The passionsspiele echoes through every aspect of Oberammergau. I walk down streets with names like “the kingdom of heaven” and “the way of the cross” or named after past writers and composers of the play. Biblical scenes decorate the colorful painted Bavarian houses. These are the Lüftlmalerei – a baroque mural art native to Upper Bavaria. I find a local establishment slightly off the tourist path and order a cappuccino and a leibercasse (Bavarian meatloaf in a bun).
Almost every second shop is a wood carving shop. Sacred religious carvings of saints, crucifixes and creches line the windows next to the “profanfiguren” – the non-religious. Madonnas and nudes side by side. The Passion play is not the only member of the arts in Oberammergau inspired by the sacred.
The village has a long tradition of wood carving dating to the 12th century. During the long winters, wood carving was both a pastime and much needed extra income for the local population with skills passed down through families for generations. “Kraxenberger” brought these carvings across Europe, selling them from wooden frames carried on their backs as they walked the roads to as far away places as Lisbon and St Petersburg. During the Baroque period, large church decorations were commissioned in Oberammergau, allowing the village farmers to focus full-time on wood carving.
The local Oberammergau Museum also has a focused on the spiritual and the Passionsspiele. The ‘(IM)MATERIAL – Fabric, Body and Passion’ exhibit has cloaked the building inside and out with fabric from the 2000 and 2010 costumes. The 2022 contemporary exhibits are modern reflections on The Passion.
In the permanent “Static Theatre” display of creches and spiritual scenes, there are several characters who resemble the actors who played them at the times of carvings. As someone who works in theatre, an ethereal art form, I find something wonderful in this – that these performances by community performers long long ago are recorded in wood.
NEXT: OBSERVING REHEARSALS
Oberammergau Passionsspiele: Exploring a Sacred Theatre – Part 2
Oberammergau Passionsspiele: Exploring a Sacred Theatre – Part 3
Jack (he, him) is an award-winning devisor, director, translator, and creative producer whose work and practice have taken him across Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and around the world. Projects have ranged from contemporary devising, multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural, and multi-lingual experiences to new works & texts, contemporary approaches to classical theatre and main stages. Shows under his direction have garnered over thirty theatre award nominations with many wins. He trained at leading international theatrical institutions including Circle in the Square (NYC, USA), GITIS The University of Performing Arts (Moscow, RU), ISI Indonesian Institute of the Arts (Bali, INA) and received his Masters in Fine Arts from the renown East 15 Acting School and University of Essex (London, UK).
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