Passion and saint plays in Waal

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The Passion and Saints plays in Waal in the Ostallgäu district are among the oldest Passion plays in Bavarian Swabia . They are listed irregularly; the passion play every 12 years, saints every four years.

history

The passion and folk plays in Waal are the oldest in a permanent establishment that is still in operation today and performances of this kind in Bavarian Swabia are played exclusively by local amateurs. According to research to date, the Passion Play probably goes back to the plague epidemics in the 17th century and the public veneration of a relic of cross particles that has been kept in the parish church of St. Anna in Waal since 1626, to which numerous pilgrimages took place. A brotherhood of the Holy Cross, which emerged in 1655, is considered to be the original sponsor of the Games.

With the beginning of the Age of Enlightenment under Elector Karl Theodor and King Max Joseph I , all Passion performances were banned in Bavaria in 1770, with the exception of the Oberammergau and Waal Passion plays.

The oldest surviving document about the games is a text from 1791, which has been preserved in several copies and is based on a play poem by the late medieval Reformation master singer Sebastian Wild from Augsburg , who was also the author of the Oberammergau play and (after revision by others) other Passion plays (e.g. B. the mystery play of "Christ Urstend" in Erl / Tyrol) should have been.

Passion plays among many

Around 1800 Waal was only one of many places in the region (e.g. Türkheim, Mindelheim, Bobingen, Immenstadt) where the Passion Play was revived in conscious rebellion against the earlier bans. The Waaler games are the only ones left. In 1813 the local lord had a first permanent theater built in the small village, in which eleven different secular plays were initially performed, until 1815 the first modern Passion Play was played, for which the Oberammergau text in the version of the Ettal Benedictine and doctor of philosophy Othmar was played Weis (1769–1843) from 1811 was taken over. The theme of the games in Waal today is not only the Passion of Christ (the actual Passion Play), but also other spiritual and secular content, e.g. B. the life of various saints (e.g. Francis of Assisi, the Apostle Paul, Mary, Bishop Ulrich of Augsburg). The Passionsspielgemeinschaft Waal e. V. three to four-hour pieces, which are listed as the carrier, are partly written especially for the Waal stage and therefore experience their world premiere in Waal, partly they are adaptations.

The up to 200 actors of all ages are local amateur actors who are selected by the board of the sponsoring association from its members. In the playing years, performances take place throughout the summer in a 1960/61 newly built passion play theater with up to 800 seats, which is owned by the sponsoring association. The stage is equipped with a circular horizon as well as mobile plastic elements and enables versatile stage designs through colored projections. The performances have always been followed by a service in the parish church.

Since 1791, over 150 plays (123 different) secular and spiritual content have been performed in 116 playing years, 22 of which are on the theme of passion. The secular folk games took place every two years on average in the 20th century, previously not infrequently annually. Were listed z. B. literary works (Schiller's “Wilhelm Tell”, Raimund's “Der Verschwender”) historical material (“Andres Hofer”, “Murder Christmas. Peasant Battle near Sendling”) and other things. Otto Kobel was the director and artistic director of the Passion Play for almost 50 years until his death . Peter Pius Irl directed the play Becket or Die Ehre Gottes in 2005 .

The topics of the last Waaler Games were:

  • 1976: Waaler Bauernpassion , director: Otto Kobel
  • 1979: Franziskusspiel , in-house production, director: Otto Kobel, text: Paul Schmidkonz
  • 1985: Paulusspiele , in-house production, director: Otto Kobel
  • 1989: Passion , directed by Otto Kobel
  • 1993: Ulrichsspiel , director: Otto Kobel, text: Matthias Pöschl
  • 1997: Franziskusspiel in- house production, director: Otto Kobel, text: Paul Schmidkonz
  • 2001: Miller Passion , in-house production, based on Arthur Maximilian Miller , director: Otto Kobel
  • 2005: Becket or Die Ehre Gottes , based on Jean Anouilh , directed by Peter Pius Irl
  • 2009: Miller Passion , in-house production, based on Arthur Maximilian Miller, director: Florian Martin Werner
  • 2012: Franziskusspiel , director: Florian Martin Werner

literature

  • A. Layer: Passion Play in Swabia , 1980
  • Sigrid Mayer: Passion play tradition in the Allgäu , 1957 (dissertation)
  • A. Knorr: The Passion Play in the Alemannic Region , 1990
  • E. Dünninger: Continuity and Renewal in Bavarian Passion Plays in the 19th and 20th Centuries , 1990
  • Alois Sailer (author), Fritz and Franz Hummel (design and illustrations), Passions-Spielgemeinschaft Waal (ed.): Passionsspiel Waal . Waal 1969
  • Rudolf Klöck, Christian folk drama in Waal. A profiled specimen on traditional soil, masch. Admission thesis, Munich 1984

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