In Oberammergau, until 2020 the fact that “the Passion” takes place every ten years was as certain as the amen in church. Corona has shaken some of those certainties. The pulse of the place, as the Passion rhythm was once called, stopped. There have been no irregularities in the Passion programme since the Second World War: they take place every ten years, and there were even additional plays in 1977 and 1984. For almost everyone involved this time, even the village elders, the experience of the postponement is something new. Something that you only know about from history and theory.

On 8 March 2020 I am heading to Oberammergau again. About a week earlier, while attending a première at the Münchner Kammerspiele, for the first time I sense a tension in everything, and that some people are taking care not to get too close to others. A few days later there is a press conference for the “Radikal jung” festival in the Münchner Volkstheater. In the midst of the discussion, the unbelievable question arises for the first time: “When will the theatres be closed?” The seemingly antiquated word “quarantine” is used for the first time in schools. Children who were...