New Dawn Park’s Denzil Deane has big sandals to fill in the role of Christus in the ‘Durban Passion Play’, writes Latoya Newman
ONCE every five years the Durban Passion Play brings to stage the re-enactment of the story behind the meaning of Easter and this year marks the show’s comeback.
With a cast of 150, the production depicts the Christian story of the passion of Jesus Christ, covering the final days of his life.
Directed by Dawn Haynes and Tanya Conradie, the first Passion Play in Durban was performed in 1952 by special permission granted by the mayor and community of Oberammergau in Bavaria to the Durban Catholic Players’ Guild to stage an abridged version of their world famous Passion Play. It has now been staged every five years for the past 63 years.
Tonight spoke with Denzil Deane (pictured) who takes on the role of Christus, which was the role he played when he first joined the cast in 2011.
“Being a Christian, you understand the role that you are playing. At first I definitely had a challenge accepting that I could be worthy of portraying this role. Also, knowing how popular the story is – whether you’re Christian or not, most people know about the story of Jesus. So it was also a challenge of looking and portraying the part up to these expectations.”
Deane also thinks the importance of running the production over Easter is twofold: “I think its importance is immense, particularly because it is the story behind why we commemorate Easter. The majority of the play is based on the passion of Christ. But it is also interesting for anyone to see us re-enacting those moments and to get a first-hand experience about why we celebrate Easter.
“I think the opportunity to actually see the re-enactment live is the most attractive. It’s a multi-cultural, multi-religious cast and it’s a story that many people can relate to.
“We have cast members who are not Christian and we have people who come to see the re-enactment who are not Christian, that’s how popular it is. The play happens every five years, so it’s not an opportunity you get every year.”
There will be 24 performances at the Playhouse Drama Theatre running from April 1 to19. One of the highlights will be a performance for the hearing impaired on Sunday, April 12 at 2.30pm, when the performance will be signed.
Block bookings are available for anyone who would like to book the whole theatre for fund raising. For further details, contact [email protected]. Public booking is through Computicket.
Did you know…
• Oberammergau Passion Play is a passion play performed since 1634 as a tradition by the inhabitants of the village of Oberammergau, Bavaria, Germany. Since its first production it has been performed on open-air stages in the village.
• What was first enacted in 1634 in Oberammergau was used in Durban as a means of celebrating the centenary of the arrival of missionaries in South Africa in 1852.
• The text of the play is a composite of four distinct manuscripts dating from the 15th and 16th centuries.
• The first Durban Passion Play, enacted at the Greyville Racecourse, was so successful that Durban’s Father Noel Coughlan travelled to Bavaria to gain permission for the Durban version of the play to be staged every five years.
• The Durban Passion Play was staged at the Greyville Racecourse for many years, before moving to the Durban City Hall until 1997. More recently it has been performed at the Playhouse Theatre. – source: Publicity Matters, with additional info from Wikipedia