Passion Plays
Traditionally the last two weeks of Lent are observed as a period of devotion to the Passion of Christ.
The sufferings of our Savior, which reached their peak with his death on the cross, appear to have been thought of as an inseparable whole from a very early period. In Acts 1:3 Luke speaks of those to whom Christ "showed himself alive after his passion" [KJV]. (More modern translations have changed "passion" to "suffering" for clarity.)
History of the Passion Play
Modern Passion Plays have their roots in the religious plays of the Middle Ages. The popular taste for dramatic productions was fed by early Easter religious celebrations. The clergy emphasized more and more the dramatic moments, and added new subjects, among them some of a secular nature. They introduced the characters of Pilate, the Jews, and the soldiers guarding the tomb. These additions were done more to satisfy the people's love of novelty and amusement. So the early Easter celebrations became actual dramatic performances, known as the Easter Plays. The secular aspects and the fact that these plays didn't instruct the congregation concerned many religious leaders.
The Easter Plays represented in their day the highest development of the secular drama. But people wanted to see Jesus' whole life, particularly the story of his Passion. So a series of dramas started, which were called Passion Plays, with the sufferings of Jesus being the main subject. Some of them ended with the entombment of Christ. In others the Easter Play was added to show the Savior in his glory. Still others close with the Ascension or with the dispersion of the Apostles.
By the fourteenth century, the Passion Play had complex enough that it required repeated practices prior to performance. Nearly all the Passion Plays are founded upon the Passion Play in Tyrol, Germany. At Bozen, Germany, women first started playing female roles.
The wealth of the citizens provided for magnificent productions on the public squares, where Passion Plays moved to after being expelled from churches as containing too little religious instruction. The citizens and civil authorities considered it a point of honor to make the productions as elaborate and varied as possible.
In the seventeenth century, the elaborate Jesuit dramas arose and most Passion Plays were relegated to out-of-the-way villages and to the monasteries. Public interest in the Passion Play re-awoke during the latter part of the nineteenth century.
The extent of Mary's role in Passion plays is influenced by elements from Scripture, apocryphal gospels and legends.
One scene sometimes shown is a recreation of Michelangelo's statue "The Pieta" (The Lamentation of Christ), which depicts Mary holding Jesus' dead body.
Today, many churches have again added drama to the normal Sunday worship services. Small vignettes or short plays dealing with the various events of Holy Week are also making their way back into church services.
