Few of Europe’s cultural events have the pedigree of the Oberammergau Passion Play . Since 1634, inhabitants of the southern German village have participated in the play, which its people pledged to perform every 10 years at a time when Oberammergau was being ravaged by the plague. Yet the 2020 version (host years were changed to those ending in a “0” in 1680) has been postponed because of a different microscopic killer. The premiere of the 42nd edition of the play was scheduled for May 16, with 103 performances due to continue into October. Each performance would have drawn more than 4,500 spectators to Oberammergau’s theatre, a gently inclined hall with wooden seats, an arched ceiling and an open-air stage with a temple-like permanent backdrop. As part of measures to slow the spread of Covid-19, the authorities forced the postponement of this decade’s production. Ticket holders, many of whom are aged over 60 and thus in the high-risk category, had already started contacting the ticket office from around the world to ask whether the play would go ahead in light of the pandemic and the resulting disruptions to travel. It had also become increasingly difficult to hold rehearsals, which at times brought 700 to 800 people together on stage. “The passion play would have been one of the biggest events in Bavaria this year [the biggest, Munich's Oktoberfest, has now been cancelled, too]. We expected half a million visitors from all over the world,” says Frederik Mayet, manager of the production’s press office and one of the actors cast as Jesus. “Oberammergau is located in the Bavarian Alps and we don’t have much industry here, so we depend a lot on tourism. We have a lot of hotels and restaurants; it will have a huge impact.” Wynne Tranter, who organises tours for the University of the Third Age, an international movement established to educate and stimulate retired people, says, “We were to be a group of 18 people, all from the UK […] and we planned to spend eight days exploring the castles and lakes of Bavaria, and end in Oberammergau. For our group, an overnight stay in Oberammergau, category B accommodation – equivalent to a four-star hotel or five-star guest house – was included in the price.” As the name suggests, the play is based on the passion of Jesus; it begins with the son of God’s arrival in Jerusalem, continues through the crucifixion and ends after his resurrection. Participants must have been born in Oberammergau, a 90-minute drive southwest of Munich, or have lived in the village for at least 20 years. About 2,500 of the village’s 5,200 residents participate as actors, members of the choir or orchestra, or behind the scenes as technicians. Roles were allocated in 2018 with each of the 21 main parts split between two actors to ease the burden. Rehearsals began on December 7, following a preparatory visit to Israel, which enabled key cast members to experience places where Jesus and other characters would have walked. “Emotionally, it’s not easy for any of us. We’ve been working on the passion play for years now,” says Franziska Zankl, an assistant in the press office but who, being neither Oberammergau-born nor a resident, is not permitted to take to the stage. Set preparations were complete and costumes had been delivered. Men had grown their beards and hair to look like biblical characters. Hoteliers and restaurateurs had renovated and decorated their properties ahead of the once-in-a-decade opportunity. Oberammergau is characterised by chalet-style buildings with jutting roofs, wooden balconies and windows flanked by shutters. The facades of several buildings are adorned by lüftmalerei – colourful murals depicting scenes from fairy tales, biblical stories or folk in Bavarian costumes feasting, dancing and playing music. The social fabric of the village, however, is dominated by the play. “Everyone who lives in Oberammergau grows up with the passion play,” says Mayet, who also played Jesus in 2010. “Usually you start when you’re a small kid. For everyone, it’s really important to take part. People take unpaid holidays to take part.” I watched Mayet perform in 2010 and was impressed by the mass participation and gravitas of the play, the appeal of which extends beyond the obvious Christian circle. Crowd scenes thronged with children and goats conveyed the streets of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. During the crucifixion scene, the audience gasped as Jesus, Dismas and Gestas were convincingly hoisted up on crosses. Each show has a running time of five hours, with a three-hour interval giving spectators an opportunity to eat or stroll around the village. Between the action scenes, cast members move into position on stage to pose motionless in “living pictures” reminiscent of the old masters displayed in Munich’s Alte Pinakothek art museum: scenery is quickly installed to provide an appropriate backdrop as Daniel enters the lion’s den or Moses parts the Red Sea. This is not the first postponement of the play. The upheavals of the Napoleonic wars resulted in the 1810 edition being held in 1811 (and 1815), and World War I (1914-18)resulted in the 1920 edition being rescheduled for 1922. And there have been cancellations. In 1770, Elector and Duke of Bavaria Maximilian III banned all passion plays but his successor, Karl Theodor, allowed Oberammergau’s to be reinstated in 1780. Then World War II(1939-45) resulted in the 1940 edition being called off. Special editions were performed for the tricentenary of the play, in 1934, and its 350th anniversary, in 1984. And performances were permitted in 1801, at an early stage of the Napoleonic wars, to help clear the community’s debt during uncertain times. Perhaps it was inevitable an event born out of one health crisis would eventually fall victim to another. In the early 1630s, Europe was at war and Swedish troops had brought the plague to southern Bavaria. “What the Obermmergau residents did in those days, today we would call social distancing,” says Mayet. “They set up fires around the village and they didn’t let anyone in.” However, he says, “A man called Kaspar Schisler, who worked in a neighbouring village but was from Oberammergau, sneaked in. He brought the plague. Within a few months, a third of the population had died. In those days, people thought it was a punishment by God, but they did the right thing, they said, ‘We keep a distance to others.’” Europe has weathered numerous crises since the inaugural Oberammergau Passion Play . The staging of the rescheduled 42nd edition, now due to start on May 14, 2022, will hopefully take place in a healthy post-Covid-19 world. Although that may be too late for some. “I may [lead a tour to the rescheduled play] then but that’s a long way away and lots of other opportunities or discoveries may arise,” Tranter says, “and some of my travellers may be dead or too ill by then.”