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• passion play
  passion play

  noun

  a dramatic representation of the passion of Christ, as that given every ten years at the Bavarian village of Oberammergau.
• Passion play
  Passion play

  noun

  a play depicting the Passion of Christ

passion play

American  

Or Passion Play

noun

1. a dramatic representation of the passion of Christ, as that given every ten years at the Bavarian village of Oberammergau.

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Passion play British  

noun

1. a play depicting the Passion of Christ

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Etymology

Origin of passion play

First recorded in 1865–70

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

passion play Passion play

Philip Breen, who is responsible for the adaptation, first approached Mullan a number of years ago about an eight-hour passion play he envisaged with a community chorus.

From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2025

Grad assistant Jaelynn Penn, who played for the Bruins last season, tallies each passion play during the game using a pen, sheet of paper and clipboard on the bench.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2023

The passion play has three storytelling forms: narrative scenes with dialogue, oratorio-like songs performed by a large choir and tableaux vivants of Old Testament moments.

From New York Times ● Aug. 24, 2022

“But we have an endless desire to bring our passion play back to the stage and we are highly motivated.”

From Seattle Times ● May 7, 2022

The "Passion Play" in Bavaria.—This year, the foreign journals state, is the year of the passion play of the Ammergau in Bavaria.

From The International Monthly Magazine, Volume 1, No. 1, August 1850 of Literature, Science and Art. by Various

Early successes include the groundbreaking Passion play in Port Talbot with Michael Sheen in 2011, which lasted three days and attracted 25,000 spectators.

From BBC ● Dec. 18, 2024

There are also plans for more offbeat repertoire, including Bohuslav Martinu’s “The Greek Passion,” which tells the story of a Greek village staging a Passion play, in a production led by the conductor Maxime Pascal.

From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2022

"Superstar" is structured similarly to a traditional Christian Passion play, depicting Jesus' final days.

From Salon ● Apr. 16, 2022

It was the fifty-eighth anniversary of the operation, which ended in catastrophe; the annual commemoration has become a kind of Miami Passion play.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 29, 2019

Here we have a typical instance of a Passion play of the olden time maintaining itself.

From Education: How Old The New by James J. Walsh

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