THE Durban Catholic Players’ Guild, in association with the Playhouse Company, will present the 13th Durban Passion Play at the Playhouse Drama theatre from April 1 to 24.
The first Passion Play in Durban was performed in 1952, when the mayor and community of Oberammergau in Bavaria granted special permission to the Durban Catholic Players’ Guild to stage an abridged version of their world famous Passion Play.
What was first enacted in 1634 in Oberammergau was used in Durban as a means of celebrating the centenary of the arrival of the missionary Oblate priests of Mary Immaculate, who arrived in South Africa in 1852.
That first 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 Oberammergau village fathers willingly obliged, seeing the play as a means of witnessing to the larger population of Southern Africa. Durban would become the “Oberammergau of Africa”.
It has been staged in Durban every five years for 59 years.
The Durban Passion Play moved from Greyville Racecourse to the Durban City Hall until 1997, and will now be staged at the Playhouse.
The play involves seven months of commitment from a 150-plus cast who receive no monetary remuneration.
The cast, an inter-denominational group of diverse people, vary in age from toddlers and teenagers to young adults and the more mature, including a dedicated and active 90-year-old.
The role of Jesus Christ is being shared this year by Brett Montanari of Westville and Denzil Deane of Newlands East.
The role of Mary, the mother of Christ, is also to be shared by two women: Patty Hunt and Denise Rankin, both from Pinetown.
The play’s director is Dawn Haynes and the producer is Clifton Brock.
The aim of The Durban Catholic Players’ Guild is to continue the production of the Durban Passion Play every five years, thus maintaining this unique link with Oberammergau while enriching the cultural history of Durban through the dramatic witness of the Passion of Christ.
Booking to see the play is at Computicket. Ticket prices range from R30 to R60.
Performances are at various times, and both matinee and evening performances have been arranged.