Passion Play Oberammergau: "Jesus is getting louder again"

Created: 05/13/2022, 16:29

By: Michael Schleicher

"This story is never told to the end," says director Christian Stückl about the Passion in Oberammergau.

©Andreas Mayr

Finally.

On Saturday, May 14, 2022, the Passion will celebrate its premiere in Oberammergau.

On the Thursday before the premiere, we spoke to director Christian Stückl, 60, who is also director of the Munich Volkstheater, about the 42nd Passion Play.

For well-known reasons, the “play about the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ”, which was performed for the first time in 1634, had to be postponed.

The ten-year rhythm has been in effect since 1680 – actually 2020 would have been the Passion Year.

Now it's finally premiered on Saturday, May 14, 2022.

Not only director Christian Stückl is looking forward to this.

It's your fourth passion as a game master - is it also the most exciting?

Christian Stückl:

You can't say that.

When I first became a game master, the hostilities were pretty intense.

We wanted to do something new back then, we wanted changes.

Every passion was different – ​​but this one was very exhausting.

Especially out at the end.

Why was that?

Christian Stückl:

On Wednesday, for example, we had nine corona cases in technology.

I have the feeling that I only get sick reports.

It's not easy to keep it all together.

There was a two-year postponement, then I had the heart attack...

I recently had the impression that you don't like to talk about your heart attack in February

.

Christian Stückl:

The topic is over, yes.

The first morning when you have it, you think: What is this?

I was in the car with a friend and I said, "I think we should call a doctor." Two days later I had the operation - and I felt a lot better.

If you have a stent in, the pump will run again.

Is there a point on the day of the premiere where you know: now the tension can ease?

Christian Stückl:

You're on high tension all day long.

It's really only in the evening that everything falls away from you.

Is it mean to ask what was more important to you?

The opening of the new Volkstheater in Munich - or the fact that the passion can take place?

Christian Stückl:

Last year in October we were extremely busy to make sure everything was running smoothly in the new Volkstheater.

And for the last two months I've been extremely tense because of the passion play.

Both are important events that you cannot weight.

Let's talk about the story you tell in Oberammergau: How has your view of Jesus changed since 1990?

Christian Stückl:

We were still young the first time.

Today I believe that we saw Jesus then as we saw ourselves.

We wanted revolution - we didn't have precise theological guidelines in mind.

We wanted change.

The Jesus should be strong and loud.

He tried – perhaps also with youthful enthusiasm – to change the world.

The two certainly came together: my attitude towards the Passion Play and Jesus' attitude.

In 2010 that had changed completely: It was about the calm Jesus, the very consistent one, who carefully stayed on his path.

And what can the audience expect now?

Christian Stückl:

I feel that Jesus is getting louder for me again.

I have no desire for a purely theological Jesus – theological disputes hardly interest me anymore.

But?

Christian Stückl:

I am interested in the Jesus who goes to the fringes of society, who talks a lot about poverty, who talks a lot about refugees, who talks a lot about war.

A Jesus who is partly in despair because he thinks - and this may coincide with me - that no matter how hard he tries, the world will not be saved.

Do you have an example?

Christian Stückl:

The sentence comes to mind: "Because it will be like in the days of Noah - the deluge comes and sweeps them all away." It's easy to think about climate change.

There are several such points.

It clearly has something of the struggle of a desperate person who sets priorities - and goes to the fringes of society.

You spoke of change.

Is that perhaps the most important thing when dealing artistically with such a subject?

Questioning and changing?

Christian Stückl:

When I started more than 30 years ago, two things were particularly important to me: to tell more about the life of Jesus than about his death - and to tackle anti-Semitism in the Passion Play.

Of course, it was also about questioning the passion itself.

Up until 1990, for example, no married women and no women over the age of 35 were allowed to participate.

To take part, you have to be born in Oberammergau or have lived here for 20 years.

Legislation that more than upsets me.

Because where you were born doesn't matter.

Young people from Afghanistan or Nigeria, for example, came with the wave of refugees.

They do the whole thing really well!

So is it time for a change here too?

Christian Stückl:

If you ask where the rule with the 20 years comes from: It was introduced in 1960 to prevent people who had been expelled from the East, who came to Oberammergau after 1945, from playing.

Should that change?

Christian Stückl:

That has to change.

I'm absolutely sure with this.

Because I've never noticed as strongly as this time: The passion play is worn by 20 to 30 year olds.

That's a good sign!

Christian Stückl:

The youngsters carry the game - and it's incredibly important that the youngsters carry it, that they feel like continuing it.

This story is never told to the end.

To what extent has the world situation with Corona and the Ukraine war influenced your work as a director?

Christian Stückl:

I notice that you listen to certain sentences in a completely different way.

For example, Peter once yelled at Judas, “Remove the name of God from war.

God doesn't want war.

Man makes war!” This sentence sounds different against the background of the Ukraine war.

But it was already in the text version two years ago.

Because we also had wars on earth in 2020 - they were just further away.

But now he is being heard more.

In any case, the world situation has an influence on the demand for tickets.

What are the pre-sale numbers?

Christian Stückl:

At the moment we are moving at 75 percent space utilization, which is certainly new for Oberammergau.

We're not 100 percent yet.

But I look at the numbers at the Volkstheater in Munich and I'm shocked - and I think the Kammerspiele are also shocking with their numbers.

Why is the audience reluctant?

Christian Stückl:

I have no idea if it's because energy costs have gone up and people are keeping their money together because of inflation;

we are currently stagnating at 75 percent capacity utilization.

We've run over 100,000 cards in America.

That's also less than before.

For this reason, it might be interesting to think about whether passion can be the only economic factor in Oberammergau.

After the postponement two years ago, was there a point at which you thought the 2020 passion would no longer work at all?

Christian Stückl:

Yes, it already existed.

On January 6th, for example, I started rehearsals and on January 4th, Bavaria's Health Minister Holetschek was there and said: "I don't see it." That was a very difficult moment for us.

But now it works.

It's working now.

More about the Oberammergau Passion Play 2022?

Read our review of the exhibition "(IM)MATERIAL - Material, Body, Passion" in the Oberammergau Museum here.