Well, when we got to the hilltop turf where the crowd - some people had dogs,
some supported small children on their shoulders - made a big circle, three
crucifixions had just taken place, a group of robed women crouched plaintively
not far from the dying Jesus, and the two thieves looked much wounded and dying.
Missed the Last Words.
Unfortunately some schmaltzy Lloyd Webber sort of music was filling the air.
White-gowned girls and young women, with angel wings at their backs, some
barefoot, some sandalled, wandered here and there silently.
Two scarlet-tunicked centurions were on horseback, and others on foot; soon they
lowered the central cross and carried the dead Jesus to his mother.
They draped him over her lap and I felt my first pang then.
It was like the great and famous sculpture of Jesus and Mary, paintings too,
Italian and Netherlandish artists, names not coming to me.
Soldiers carried him to a makeshift 'cave' nearby, made of hemp fabric.
A synthetic-looking disc was ready to be rolled over the entrance.
Somehow the passage of time speeded up and as the shifty disciples approached
the women discovered the tomb empty.
Consternation, perhaps rejoicing as it had to be supernatural.
Suddenly a clean robed perky Jesus walked amongst the disciples and they all
embraced and rejoiced. Lacking the necessary imagination, I felt he must be an
impostor.
At this moment the raincloud overhead seemed threatening and my wife and I had a
stiff steep walk back to our street.
Jesus was impersonated by a pleasant young man, the other performers were very
amateurish, and we wished they'd been denied a script that went way beyond the
gospels.
A medieval sounding hymn was being sung while we moved away, and for once the
occasion got away from the world of jesuschristsuperstar...
Max
Quoting Max Richards <[log in to unmask]>:
> This, from our local paper, about today's Passion Play in the park over the
> road...
>
> A detail I specially like is that the actor's day job is in the gambling
> industry.
> Must now get over there, too late for the loaves and fishes and the donkey
> ride,
> but maybe in time for Pilate and even, if the rain holds off, the
> crucifixion...
>
> best from Max in Melbourne
>
> Chris Masters Mah will take to the cross for the last time on Good Friday
> after
> playing Jesus in the Melbourne Passion Play for two consecutive years.
>
> The 25-year-old joined the cast five years ago after his mother pointed out
> an
> article in the Manningham Leader.
>
> Masters Mah, who lives in Doncaster, said performing in the annual non-
> denominational play - which draws thousands each year to Ruffey Lake Park -
> was
> a very intense and spiritual experience.
>
> With the elaborate props and costumes, it was like travelling back to ancient
> times at each rehearsal and performance.
>
> “The goal of all the actors is to give that feeling to everyone who comes to
> watch as well,” Masters Mah said.
>
> “I think we’ve done our job if people feel they have been transported back to
> Jerusalem.”
>
> Masters Mah worked his way up through a variety of roles, including a
> crucified
> thief and John the Baptist, before scoring the gig as the son of God last
> year.
>
> His previous experience included performing in high school productions of
> West
> Side Story and The Red Shoes.
>
> “Me being a Christian, I’ve grown up trying to be like Jesus so it’s the role
> of
> a lifetime,” he said.
>
> The hardest thing about the role - along with learning about 35 pages of
> lines -
> was the expectations.
>
> “I always feel it’s a little bit daunting, it’s some big shoes to fill, even
> just playing the part of Jesus,” he said.
>
> “But it is also very emotionally exhausting, particularly the scourging and
> the
> crucifixion.
>
> “After each performance I have to sleep for 10 hours. I’m completely
> drained.”
>
> Masters Mah, who makes a living running Australian Poker League tournaments,
> said it would be his last Melbourne Passion Play but he planned to continue
> acting.
>
> The free play is on Good Friday at 10am at Ruffey Lake Park in Doncaster.
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