Do you know what a Passion Play is ?

[EmmaOfNormandy]

And would it be a good test of "Britishness" whatever that is ?

I see stories like this, and my first thought is almost never "What would Rupert do ?"

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/11155367.council-officer-apologises-passion-play-mistake/

There's one performed every Easter where I live in London.

Yes I do. They’re a cultural as much as a religious occasion is some places, like the York Mystery plays. They did those at the National Theatre, didn’t they? Do they have them in the other nations in the UK?

But afaik Christianity is not a peculiarly British phenomenon, though even as an atheist, I’m aware that God is an Englishman. The Oberammergau performance is a famous passion play.

This is becoming one of those threads where it’s a bit obvious who’s only reading the OP.

@HoppityBun Yes, the NT staged The Mysteries in 1977. I was bowled over by them (less bowled over by the passing of years though. 1977 omg). Brian Glover as God on a forklift truck 👏

Michael Sheen directed a well-publicised passion play in Port Talbot in 2011.

They're pretty universal, or used to be.

I live in the Midwest US and a part of the city where I live shuts down to allow the huge Hispanic passion play to proceed through the streets of a few neighborhoods.

Basically, everywhere there are Christians there are or were passion plays.

This was a really interesting performance. I wish they'd put it back on iPlayer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Passion

I assumed it would be something you could buy from Superdrug made by durex

Never heard of these before. I'm not religious although definitely British. And clearly didn't read the Chalet School books, despite being obsessed with school stories as a young un.

Yep. The people least likely to understand and go on about how weird and creepy they are tend to be the ones who go on about foreigners and Sadiq Khan, usually.

The most well known one in recent years I think was Martin Sheen’ in Port Talbot

My mum's been to that too. And acted in ones in York.

Not my thing, but apparently Oberammagau was amazing.

Chalet School?

Exactly!

(And no, I clearly didn't RTFT)

Yes but then I'm an oldie that was educated in a CofE school and went to church, so am very familiar with the term.

I immediately thought of the famous one in Oberammergau.

Quite a few years back they did it in Liverpool city centre or might have been Manchester live broadcast on bbc that was pretty good. I’ve seen good ones overseas too. We just do the readings in church, no acting

Well I'd fail the British test cos I've never heard of them until today. I went to Sunday school as a kid so don't know how this passed me by.

This thread has brought back a folksong we sang in German in the dark ages, about Lise and her unreliable boyfriend - it went on the lines of
Ob er aber uber Oberammergau
Oder aber uber Unterammergau
Oder aber überhaupt nicht kommt
Sel ist nicht gewiss.
SPAG probably all over the place after sixty-five years. We were not the Chalet School.

Yes, that’s my main association.

Ober wotsit/Not particularly British
is the new cancel the cheque

Yes I know, but what makes them "British"?

We have them in Chester, it's a fabulous event.

Yes of course. Used to get taken by school to go and see the York ones every year. Although they are called Mystery Plays in York.

I usually take a holiday during Easter Week (Holy Week) and have seen passion plays and processions in cities with big catholic communities from Spain to Poland to Chile to New Mexico. The last place I’d associate them with is GB.

Judi Dench appeared in the York Mystery Plays early in her career. She was an angel in 1951 and the Virgin Mary in 1957.

As long as they know the link between Passion plays and Mystery plays, anyone who has watched TV programmes about her life will know about them. Like previous posters I don’t think it’s a measure of Britishness.