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Passion Play
Passion Play, medieval religious drama in the vernacular, which dealt with the events from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion, unlike the mystery play which presented in cyclic form Bible history from the Creation to the Second Coming. The establishment in 1313 of the feast of Corpus Christi (the Thursday after Trinity Sunday) gave a great impetus to the enactment of Passion plays in large cities throughout Europe, and also led to a tradition of open-air productions of the Good Friday story in many small towns and villages, all the actors being drawn from the local community. Most of these died out during the 15th century, but, helped by the Catholic Counter-Reformation in the following century, a few were revived in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany. The only one to have become well known is that given decennially since 1634 at Oberammergau in Bavaria. This was first performed during a visitation of plague and remains entirely amateur, the villagers dividing the parts among themselves and, as in earlier times, being responsible also for the production, music, costumes, and scenery. There have been several revisions in recent times of the Oberammergau text, caused mainly by the desire to muffle its anti-Semitism, but it still remains controversial.
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PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Passion Play." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Passion Play." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-PassionPlay.html PHYLLIS HARTNOLL and PETER FOUND. "Passion Play." The Concise Oxford Companion to the Theatre. 1996. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O79-PassionPlay.html |
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Passion play
Passion play genre of the miracle play that has survived from the Middle Ages into modern times. Its subject is the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Passion plays were first given in Latin. By the 13th cent. they included German verses, and 200 years later the entire play was performed in German. Toward the end of the 15th cent. passion plays had become far more secular in content, having been degraded, in a religious sense, through their contact with carnival plays. Their production was forbidden by ecclesiastical authorities and only a few were revived after the Counter Reformation. The chief survival among the passion plays is the one performed at Oberammergau in the Bavarian Alps. This entirely amateur performance has been given every 10 years (last in 1990, originally in 1634, with only three interruptions caused by war) in fulfillment, it is said, of a vow that was made during a plague. Passion plays have been revived in a few cities in W Europe.
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"Passion play." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Passion play." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Passionp.html "Passion play." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Passionp.html |
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passion play
passion play Dramatic presentation of Christ's passion, death and resurrection, originally developed in medieval Europe. The best-known example of this tradition is still held every ten years in Oberammergau, Germany.
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"passion play." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "passion play." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-passionplay.html "passion play." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-passionplay.html |
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passion play
pas·sion play • n. a dramatic performance representing Christ's Passion from the Last Supper to the Crucifixion. |
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Cite this article
"passion play." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "passion play." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-passionplay.html "passion play." The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English. 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-passionplay.html |
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