Badlands Passion Play a multi-sensory experience

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

The 2015 Canadian Badlands Passion Play, telling the story of Jesus’ life, opened its 22nd season, July 10.
My Passion Play experience this year began on a low note; there was no record of our tickets, and several other patrons had the same difficulty. It was clearly stressful for staff, but they were consistently gracious with patrons and with each other. They found us seats, and my friend and I agreed afterward that the show more than made up for the minor hassle beforehand.
This is the fourth time I’ve seen the Passion Play, but I could see it a dozen more times and absorb new details every time. This year, I realized in a new way what a multi-sensory experience it is.
The play is set in a natural amphitheatre in the Drumheller badlands, and we attended on a hot, humid day, which made me feel even closer to the original climate and terrain of the story. I marvelled again at how the actors run all over the little valley. Even the Alberta sky becomes part of the set when Jesus releases a dove overhead.
The actors use mics, but the show also makes use of natural acoustics. We heard a baby cry, sheep baa, and crowdspeople laugh and chatter. Chanting, singing, drumbeats and instrumental music wafted all around us. When religious leaders urge Pilate to execute Jesus, they turn and shout into the audience, “Crucify Him!”
Each group of characters wears costumes in a unifying color – religious leaders in black, soldiers in red, Jesus and his followers in blue. We smelled smoke and incense.
Glenda Warkentin, a Rosebud actor performing in the Passion Play for the second time, said the huge sensory experience is created by the directors’ and designers’ attention to detail. Because most scenes include a crowd, they use the concentration of costume colors to draw the eye. They also structured a gradually “blue reveal”, when characters who believe in Jesus fold parts of their clothing to reveal sections of blue. It’s designed so “the crowd will respond even if they’re not consciously aware,” she said – and I realized that had been true for me.
The movements and locations of the 100 or more actors are all precisely timed, she said. Where they’re passing bread, for instance, each person passes at the same time, on a drumbeat.
When all the details have been rehearsed, “it almost feels like a machine,” Warkentin said, yet working together precisely also strengthens the performers’ sense of community. “It’s almost like there’s this heartbeat,” which gets louder and deeper as they tell the story.
Warkentin plays the Samaritan Woman, who discovers that Jesus knows all about her but loves her anyway. And for Warkentin, this huge communal story is also very personal. “I feel like it’s my story,” she said. “You can’t help but have all your heart in the telling of this story.”
You can savour the Passion Play’s multi-sensory experience on weekends until July 26. Get tickets at canadianpassionplay.com or at 1-888-823-2001.