What a fun long weekend we had in Eureka Springs! After a long drive and exploring the town by geocaching, we were impressed by the scale and dynamic quality of the Great Passion Play.
We had spontaneously decided on this trip about a month beforehand, and were able to get tickets for the last show of the season.
There was little that could make our journey to Eureka Springs fun. The twelve-hour drive via Janet’s sister’s place in Louisiana was beautifully uneventful with good refreshments and four drivers.
We quickly settled into our hotel and grabbed some Thai food for dinner. We appreciated the small town friendliness, which contrasted with Houston!
The following morning, our hotel’s continental breakfast wasn’t enough so we walked over the road to the Filling Station for breakfast, and we were filled!
Rested and fueled, we were ready to explore Eureka Springs. Both couples enjoy Geocaching, especially the Adventure Labs, and it was a great way to explore the town.
As the name suggests, the town is located alongside many natural springs, which have been attracting tourists for a long time. The hilly town had plenty of cute coffee shops and antique shops, spread out between guesthouses, historic homes, and tattoo parlors. Dilapidated houses betrayed the economic challenges faced by a town mostly reliant on tourism. I sensed the tension between the progressive artsy town and its conservative main attraction. A coffee shop had free Narcan dispensers to treat anyone with an opioid overdose. We were surprised how busy shops and restaurants were considering it was mid-November, and imagined it must be heaving in the summer!
The autumnal trees were beautiful.
Janet and I had spent a couple of nights in Eureka Springs at the beginning of our honeymoon nearly thirty years ago. We remembered the town being almost dead in February and were excited to recognize the Pizza Hut that had been the only restaurant that we had been able to find.
The four of us opted for a late lunch / early dinner at the Irish Pub right next to our hotel.
Well, my name was on the air conditioner above it!
The food was mighty fine!
It was time to head up to the passion play. First we checked out the Christ of the Ozarks statue.
We had plenty of time to check out the Passion Play complex. There were a variety of museums, shops, and restaurants which gave off a vibe of cheesy tourism. The Bible Museum had a good collection of rare books, but they weren’t interesting to most people. There was a gallery of Christian art created using artificial intelligence, though the thought of using ai in art repelled us. The shops blended Passion Play and Christian mementos with everything from cookware to nationalistic banners. We were intrigued how a restaurant combined food with a pilates class until we realized it was named after the Roman Pontius Pilate rather than an exercise routine!
The shops promoted a book called The Merged Gospels by Gary Crossland. In addition to aligning the contents of the four Gospels, Crossland presents a “merged” version using his own translation of the Greek sources. Such books make me feel uncomfortable as such an activity is a rewriting of Scripture! However, I see the value it can bring in appreciating the biblical narrative, which the Passion Play did so well. Such sources should be used carefully.
We saw the inside of the amphitheater before sunset. It gave us an appreciation of the scale of the theater and set. However, the set needed the stage lighting and actors to bring it to life.
After sunset at 5pm, the pre-show started at 5:30. It was a couple of talks. The first was by an actor playing the role of David as a shepherd. It was a cross between an uplifting sermon and a lesson on sheep farming, and we were excited to learn about how a shepherd used his crook! The second was a pottery demonstration by a potter who has been doing this since 1984. As he made his pot, which potters call a vessel, he explained the process and the parallels in Scripture. As he spun his wheel and created the inside of his pot, he explained that the inside is called the heart of the vessel; that no one outside can see the vessel’s heart but its creator knows it intimately. We also got a taste of how cold it was going to be in the main outside theater for the next two hours!
It was easy to find good seats in the auditorium. We chose some in the middle, about half way down. I grabbed a hot chocolate just before the show started, and we all bundled with our many layers, coats and blankets.
The playbill explained the set which was a combination of ten or so scenes.
It lasted nearly two hours with no intermission.
As soon as the show started, the multitude of scenes mesmerized us. Throughout the performance, there was background acting in many of the scenes while the main action happened in one of them. This also enabled them to portray effective flashbacks. The whole scene was noticeably different when everyone froze, perhaps emphasized by different lighting, when, for example, Mary reflected upon Jesus’ youth.
The sound quality was fantastic, and subsequent research revealed the show used a prerecorded soundtrack which the actors acted alongside. The sound’s directionality helped us work out where the action was.
The show used animals extremely well. The highlight was the release of dozens of doves from cages that Jesus knocked over in the Temple. Another favorite was when a young shepherd boy ran through the set followed by twenty goats and a couple of even younger boys struggling to keep up. There was a camel and the Roman soldiers towered above the people on their horses. However, a cockerel recording was used for Peter’s denial!
The live outdoor performance portrayed the raw emotion of scenes very well. Of note were Jesus’s mingling with children and His miracles. Roman soldiers actually whipping Jesus’ back was painful to watch. Three people truly hanging on crosses, and struggling to say their lines, added depth to the crucifixion.
The script was very biblically based with almost all lines being recognizable Scripture, with just a few “fillers” to help the narrative’s flow. This made it extremely easy to follow the show.
There was some artistic interpretation. We thought the portrayal of the Sanhedrin’s fear of Rome taking away their privileges was very good. Also, the flow of events highlighted how they tricked Judas to betray Jesus more than he wanted to. There was an interesting portrayal of Satan alongside Judas when he was betraying Jesus, which got mixed reactions from us.
The set allowed very creative use of lighting, with bright flashes used to blind us during special effects!. The physical distance that separated scenes, between which the actors moved, set a pace which at first seemed slow, but soon added a realistic pause to an otherwise very fast paced narrative.
Photos cannot do this justice. I did not attempt many as I wanted to watch, but of the few I took, I was surprised how well the iPhone could capture images in such challenging light.
The show was a combination of worship, an educational perspective, and reflective devotional. The show opened by stating that it demonstrated how all of humanity’s sin was culpable for Jesus’ death. The script followed Scripture closely, with only a few artistic interpretations and creative use of chronologies.
The only minor detraction was some strong messaging before the show about fundraising. The show’s organization is passionate about the message they share and they want to do more, which needs money. I believe they do great work, as do many other organizations I know. Coupled with this messaging were descriptions of this being the best, and that being the only one that does something, or ranked first, which I also found to be misleading and off-putting marketing.
Overall, we would highly recommend seeing the Great Passion Play! While we have no regrets about attending in November, warmer months might be preferred. Our middle-of-the-theater seat was best to see all aspects of the show. I’d like to come again, sitting on the front row to see the action up close, and do the backstage tour to see how they hung people from crosses and made Jesus fly up into the heavens!
About nine hours later, we were back on the road. At least the long journey with four drivers gave me plenty of time to edit my photos and write this blog post!
We were already planning our next adventure.
