The word “Punch and puppet theater” is of course completely forbidden in connection with the Passion Play in Oberammergau, especially since Punch and Judy, Seppl and the crocodile do not usually wear beards. Only the sergeant might be a candidate, but if he had been living in Oberammergau for at least 20 years, then he could also play Caiaphas there. Without a beard, of course, he would only be considered a Roman, and without the 20 years not even that.
Then he should only stand at the entrance or provide medical service or maybe act as stage manager, a kind of stage manager between art and technology. In the current passion, however, director Christian Stückl promoted such a stage manager to Roman, without further ado and without 20 years’ notice. Recently, Stückl had to grovel and apologize for this in the municipal council.
The exclusive right to play for eternal Oberammergauers is a thorn in the crown of the game master anyway. That’s why Stückl’s numerous opponents attach even more importance to the 20 years that a newcomer has to have spent in the village in order to be allowed to play. The people of Oberammergau, who are firmly rooted in their homeland, introduced this rule for the Passion in the year of the Lord in 1960, so that suddenly any Sudenten Germans who had been driven out from there would not suddenly be on the stage next to them.
The rule still applies in 2022, even in emergencies, as they often turn the Passion into a kind of improvisational theater at the moment. Four out of twelve apostles have failed. Recently, the pandemic caught the thieves, which is why two apostles had to hang by the side of the crucified Christ for a short time – including cross pain, because the crosses are custom-made, but just for others. The audience obviously didn’t notice anything, they’re all bearded.
Probably because he didn’t have a beard or because he didn’t have a Roman, he made the one who recently moved into a Roman. Suddenly 28 of them were missing because some didn’t make it professionally, others didn’t want to take a test and others had completely different reasons. Maybe it’s a lot easier to throw up if you haven’t had to grow a beard for months. So that might be a contemporary solution: compulsory beards for everyone except the crocodile.