What is a Passion Play?
Historically, a Passion Play dramatised the events of the last week of Jesus’ life, depicting the events that led up to his crucifixion. Many Passion Plays today extend this to include a dramatic portrayal of Jesus’ life, his teachings and miracles to show the context in which his death took place. Furthermore, they also include the resurrection as the most important element of the Easter story!
Passion Plays use theatre to bring the words of the Gospel to life in new, often vivid and startling, ways. They show how the message of second chances, forgiveness and new opportunities has the potential to speak life and hope into communities. They are a dramatic portrayal of what has been called ‘the greatest story ever told’.
The true story of Easter has all the elements of stories that are compelling and confronting: treachery, betrayal, injustice, sacrifice, redemption and a startling ending. As Passion Plays dramatise the story of Easter, they allow it to speak again to new audiences in new contexts.
Why are they called Passion Plays?
The word ‘Passion’ refers to the fervent love Jesus had for the people he came to save. The Bible tells us that ‘God so loved the world that he sent his only son so that no one would perish but all would come to eternal life’. Such fervent love endures all suffering and we know that Jesus ‘for the joy set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame’.
Passion [noun:] fervour, intensity, feeling, excitement, hope, longing, desire
It also refers to the intense suffering in Jesus’ life from the time of his betrayal and agony in the Garden of Gethsemane to his trial, torture and death.
Passion [noun:] agony, suffering, distress, torment, torture
Finally, ‘Passion’ can also encompass our response to God’s love and Jesus’ willingness to die for us. Telling the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection reminds us of how Jesus paved the way to new hope and a second chance. Jesus came to die on the cross and his cruel death and disgrace was in exchange for our new life. His suffering – his passion – is the measure of his love for us.
Passionate [verb:] enthusiasm, fascination, zeal, fervour, excitement, devotion
History of Passion Plays
Easter plays and religious drama have a long and rich history in the UK.
Passion Plays are descendants of the Quem Quaeritis Easter liturgy which developed in England during the 10th and 11th centuries. They also look back to the medieval Mystery Plays which involved the whole community in performances of the Bible story during the feast of Corpus Christi.
Medieval Mystery Plays were performed on pageant wagons at different sites around the city centre. In medieval York, for example, the Mystery Plays dramatised the whole Bible from the Fall of Man to the Last Judgement. Different guilds performed different parts of the cycle: the Flood was performed by the Fishers and Mariners, the Slaughter of the Innocents by the Girdlers and Nailers and the Resurrection by the Carpenters.
Mystery Plays were so popular that royal and noble visitors had special performances put on for them. The guilds of Coventry performed Mystery Plays for Margaret of Anjou in 1457 (who was reportedly disappointed that she missed the Draper’s Doomsday play due to lack of daylight), as well as for Richard III in 1485 and for Henry VIII in 1493.
Plays about the death and resurrection were performed within the medieval Mystery Play cycles that were performed in York, Coventry, Lincoln, Chester and other places around the country. Every Easter people who were often illiterate could see the story of Easter take place in elaborate productions that used expensive costumes and fake blood for the crucifixion as well as fireworks and a flaming hell mouth for the resurrection and the defeat of the devil.
There were also additional scenes, such as the ‘Harrowing of Hell’ which attempted to dramatize what happened on Easter Saturday between Jesus’ death and resurrection. Since the Bible hints that Jesus descended into hell and set free the devil’s captives, the imaginative creators of the ‘Harrowing of Hell’ scenes had great fun showing the devil getting his just deserts in the bowels of hell.
Unfortunately, the Mystery Plays came to an end during the religious upheavals of the Reformation when the plays were thought to be too Catholic because they were performed on a Catholic feast day. By royal proclamation, all dramatization of religion and politics was banned and the Mystery Plays were no longer performed in public.
