Passion Play at Pitipana

Whist here in Sri Lanka one of the pieces of work I have to do for my MA Photography studies is a series of pictures which has a narrative; something which tells a story. I was unsure what I was going to do for this until I had the good fortune to meet a photographer from Sri Lanka by the name of Dominic Sansoni who is one of the best known photographers in the country and who kindly made time for me to come to his studio and talk to him. I asked him about things that might be interesting to photograph around Sri Lanka and he had a few suggestions, one of which was the Easter Passion Play at Pitipana. 

Pitipana is a small fishing community a few km south of Negombo, and is famous for it's (quite lavish) bi-annual production of the Easter Passion of Christ. It was first introduced by the Portuguese, some time in the 1700's. Opposite St Mary's church there is a theatre (also originally built by the Portuguese) for the purpose of the passion play, and it is believed that Pitipana was one of the first places in Sri Lanka to do it. Sri Lanka is predominantly Buddhist with around 8% Catholic (mostly in coastal fishing regions such as Negombo and Chilaw) so the passion play at Pitipana is, I believe, fairly unique. 

I went and asked the vicar (Father Asitha) if I could come and document the process of putting on the play, from rehearsals to performance and he was very happy for me to come. So, starting back in February, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, I cycled the journey, in the dark with no lights (on my bike, or on the road) to Pitipana to document the rehearsals. When I first arrived I wasn't sure what to expect , though I did think the director may have been told I was coming. Not so, apparently - my arrival was obviously a bit unexpected. At first I felt a little like a fish out of water - a tourist with camera, in a very non-tourist small community, but I was immediately made to feel welcome. Though there weren't many English speakers present, those that could, came to talk to me and ask me all about what I was doing. No one was in the least bit bothered by my (or my cameras) presence, and though a little shy everyone was happy to be photographed. If I did something like this in the UK people would, more than likely, be  be suspicious of my motives and with the presence of children I would have to have parental consent forms signed before I even took my camera out of the bag. After I'd been there a nice man came up to me and  gave me a cold bottle of coca cola, and explained to me that he was playing the part of Jesus in the play; it's not often that you can say that Jesus gave you Coca Cola. I was also introduced to 'Mr Stephen', the director (complete with floppy hat) who explained each scene being rehearsed, such as "Baptist the John". I thought the play would just cover the life of Jesus, but actually it started with Adam and Eve, and the whole thing lasts about 3 hours! I should have guessed really, Catholics don't do things by halves. 


As the weeks went by I began to feel like a part of the play, and felt almost like one of the community...and each week, without fail, Jesus gave me a cold fizzy drink. The rehearsals began to make sense, as each scene became recognisable as something from the Bible. My Dad being a church of England priest, and having had a fairly church going upbringing was an advantage here, I actually knew what was happening without being able to speak the language. As Amateur dramatics goes, the performances were actually really good, but the thing which was most interesting for me, was the sense of community, and purpose, which seemed to be in the air. And also, they were clearly enjoying it too. This is something which every alternate year the whole community gets involved in (Pitipana and another local church take turns to host the play). Whether on, or off stage there is something for everyone to do; costumes, set making, music etc, everyone came together to make it happen. There was one week that was different; there was a big argument, involving everyone, about whether the music for the performance should be provided by an orchestra or one bloke and his computer. Eventually one of the priests had to come in and settle it. 


The night before Good Friday (when the performance would happen) I went to photograph the stage set being made. It was a hive of activity and they worked late into the night. They use the same backdrop each time (I guess there's no need for a different one as the story stays the same!) but setting it all up was a big job. 


On Good Friday I arrived early to get shots of the cast getting ready, and was surprised at how elaborate it was; fake beards and everything. They had all made their own costumes, which were great, if not a little bizzarre in some cases (fluffy tiger skin toga...?!) There was a sense of excitement in the place, but no one seemed to be nervous or stressed. I was told there would be up to 10,000 people in the audience, which I'm not sure was anywhere near accurate, as I just didn't think there would be that much room infront of the church for that size of crowd. 


For the duration of the performance I was allowed to be onstage. One side was nice and shady, but swarming with red ants (which I discovered have a nasty bite). The other side of the stage was in the full glare of the midday sun. I decided to brave the sun. After about 45 mins the sweat was pouring off me and I could barely see straight through my camera let alone compose a decent shot, and I began to get the feeling that the audience nearest me were running a sweep stake on how long it would be before the daft tourist would fall sideways off the stage and have to be carted off to hospital with heat stroke. 


Even though I had to spend large parts of the play underneath the stage cooling down and drinking water it has to be said that the bits I did see, and manage to photograph were great. Really well performed, looked and sounded great. The music was provided by an elaborate looking set up of keyboard and computer (I guess the guy who wanted computer music won the argument...) as well as the choir, who were all under the stage. 


At the same time as being well performed, it also has to be said that there were moments of comedy, though thats probably more to do with my sense of humour...whichever way I say this it will undoubtedly sound condescending, so I apologise, but you have to put it in context; this is not oscar winning Hollywood block buster stuff, it's the members of a fishing community putting on a performance about Jesus (among other things, if you include Adam & Eve, Abraham and Isaac etc). But there were some really good performances, notably from the devil (who scared Noah so much that Britta had to take him home) and also from Jesus and Judas. I also noticed that some of the better actors played more than one part. Though not Jesus...guess his role was a bit too major in the whole scheme of things. 


In the end, Jesus got crucified of course, and the curtain closed. Obviously they didn't actually nail him to the cross, that would have been awful (especially after all the cold drinks he'd bought me over the previous weeks). When the curtain opened again, there was a model/dummy of Jesus on the cross, complete with moving head and rolling eyes, which kept opening and closing, operated I noticed by two strings and a pulley!


Then, all the actors stood still, a pulpit was brought on stage, and Father Asitha came on stage to deliver a sermon. I'll be honest - my heart sank. Feeling severely dehydrated, not to mention hot and sticky I began to wonder if this was a ploy to keep the audience here for Mass; leave the grand finale (Jesus's resurrection) until after a couple of hours of church...I'm afraid I didn't stay to find out. I was just about ready to drop. And in any case, Jesus didn't come back to life until Easter Sunday, so surely the play couldn't end with that on Good Friday?! Also, there was a video camera team on the stage (the side with the red ants, sensibly they had worn shoes, not flip flops) who were packing up while the priest was delivering his sermon, so I took this as my cue to leave. 


Though I found the actual performance difficult (because it was just so hot!) I still have to say I really enjoyed the whole experience; from the very beginning people made me feel really welcome. The performance was a delight to watch, all their hard work over the previous months came together in a colourful and well produced performance. The audience was huge, and the actors  looked extremely passionate about the whole thing. And in a way, that's what I enjoyed most about it...maybe that's where the term passion play comes from. 


I've made a photo album of the pictures I took during my time there (telling the story chronologically of the passion play production) which I'm taking up to Pitipana tomorrow to give to the church. Lets hope they like it half as much as I enjoyed being there.  

Here's some of the pictures I took;

The Devil tempts Jesus in the wilderness

Mr Stephen the director talking with the devil...

One of the Priests has to settle an argument over the music for the play

One of the 12 disciples

Mr Stephen the director, during stage set up.

Making the stage set

Stage set preparations

Ajith (who played Jesus)

On the morning of the play Jesus's gets his beard 

Make up

Fluffy tiger skin outfit and mohican hair style

John the Baptist

Juice break

Mary, mother of Jesus

A hectic scene, but not stressed! 

The view from the stage

Pharisees

Judas leads the soldiers into the garden of Gethsemane

Jesus, after his arrest

Judas realises what he's done...

Pontius Pilate and his wife

Jesus on his way to Calvery 

Life like model with moving head and eyes which opened and closed...