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1922 31st Passion Play year – because of the aftermath of the war, the Passion Play was postponed for 2 years. The young sculptor Georg Johann Lang (1889-1968) was selected as director. 1930 32nd Passion Play year – 420,000 spectators - G.J. Lang’s (below left) new production is the first to use modern theatrical techniques: simplicity and artistic concentration instead of décor, all interpretive means were subjected to a unified artistic concept. Georg J. Lang and his brother, architect Raimund Lang, replaced in the historical 1890 stage with a clear, ascetic, monumental new stage and enlarged the auditorium to 5,200 seats 193433rd Passion Play year – 440,000 spectators. Special performances for the 300th anniversary. A drastic lowering of admission fees and reduced price railroad tickets. The new régime demanded that "Germany calls you!” be printed on the posters and sought to form the play ideologically into a "peasant drama” derived from the "consecrating power of the soil”. Hitler took advantage of Oberammergau’s popularity by attending performances shortly before elections were held. (Illustration below) The Catholic Church conferred the Missio canonica, an official allowance to teach, on Oberammergau. An attempt to commission Leo Weismantel (1885-1964) to revise the text failed following protests from conservative circles.
1950 34th Passion Play year – 480,000 spectators. The 1950 Passion Play was marked by the horrors of the national catastrophe just concluded. The play was seen as an opportunity to display the other Germany with its western Christian tradition to the vast international audience returning after the war – in conjunction with the performances, there was an art exhibition entitled "1,000 Years of Christian Art in the Sign of the Passion”. Among the visitors were Federal President Heuss, Chancellor Adenauer (Illustration below left) and the Bavarian Governor, Erhard Höchster. Representatives of the Allied powers, including General Eisenhower (below right) attended the Passion Play. Instead of the originally planned 33 performances, there were actually 87. Despite this, thousands of people were unable to get in. 197035th Passion Play year – app. 500,000 spectators. Directing the play for the last time, G. J. Lang sought an author for a text more in keeping with the times, such as A.J. Lippi or A.M. Miller, without success, so the 1930 script was retained almost unaltered. Criticism was voiced on the part of both Christian and Jewish observers suggesting the play was anti-Semitic. The Abbot of Ettal, Dr. J. M. Höck, made small corrections to the text. 1977 In 1975 the community commissioned Schwaighofer to stage a rehearsal of the Rosner text. The artist designed settings, masks and costumes. Alois Fink created a performance version, and composer Wolfgang Fortner new music. In 1977, there were eight performances, very positively received by press and public. In a referendum, however, the majority voted against Rosner’s text for the 1980. The town council reversed this decision, and initially voted in favor of the new text, but a newly elected town council decided to use the Weiss-Daisenberger text for the 1980 play. Jewish organizations boycotted the play. Conservative forces felt confirmed in their attitude when ultimately over 530,000 spectators attended the production by director A. Preisinger (1912-1989), which largely continued the Lang staging. 198038th Passion Play year. 350th anniversary. App. 480,000 spectators. Under the guidance of director Maier, some careful changes were made to both the text and the settings. For the first time, women were accorded active and passive voting rights in the election of the Passion Play Committee, however the only women permitted to take part had to be unmarried citizens of Oberammergau under the age of 35. 1984Jubilee performances. 1980/84 stage sets redisigned by the director Hans Maier. 1990 39th Passion Play year. In 1990, then, however, the youngest director ever was selected: the 27-year-old sculptor Christian Stückl. In preparation a text commission under the leadership of Prof. Rudolf Presch sought solutions for several issues raised by the Anti-Defamation League in the interest of avoiding accusations of anti-Semitism (further worked on by Swidler and Sloyan). The question of whether married, older women might participate was decided in the affirmative by the district court. The discussions of Stückl’s production had meanwhile taken on dramatic proportions – his dismissal was barely prevented. (a total of 480,000 spectators) |
