‘We kept our beards’: Oberammergau’s passion play emerges from pandemic

In 1633 the Bavarian village vowed to stage its play every 10 years if it survived the plague. It did then and has again

From his perch in the orchestra pit of the Oberammergau stage, Christian Stuckl nods and points to his players above, trying to offer them helpful instructions as their dress rehearsal to a half-full house of mainly local people gets under way.

It is hard to believe we've got this far. I keep waiting for something to go wrong, but apart from a couple of older men forgetting their lines there's really nothing to complain about," the director says at the end of the five-and-a-half-hour show.