Holy Week in Lorca
Sixty actors stage the last hours of the life of Jesus in this natural enclave before 1,400 spectators
Mount Calvario, an enclave declared a Site of Cultural Interest (BIC), was last night the exceptional setting for the staging of the living way of the cross that since 2016 has been organized by Paso Morado. This year, in an unusual way due to the pandemic, it was not itinerant as it was originally conceived, but it took place on a single stage, in front of the Calvary chapels and with a capacity of 1,400 people, 700 of them standing. A total of 60 actors gave life to the characters that surrounded Jesus Christ during his passion, death and resurrection. The author of the text, Mariano Llamas, was based on the tradition of praying the way of the cross in Lorca transmitted orally by the ‘prayers’ since the eighteenth century. The dramatization and staging were the work of Juan Francisco Ros, director of the Guerra Theater company.
There were scenes of great drama that took place offstage, very close to the spectators, such as the two falls of Jesus during his ascent to Mount Calvary. The crucifixion was overwhelming due to the play of light that gave the scene greater drama.
The light games contributed to give more drama to the scenes
Ros said, in statements to LA VERDAD, that the company hopes to be able to recover the original format in the next edition, since Lorca’s is the only way of the cross that is celebrated in Spain throughout the 14 stations and offers the possibility of attract a larger number of attendees. In 2019, almost 5,000 spectators toured the different stages of the performance from the church of San Francisco. This time the capacity limitation prevented many regular spectators from attending the event.
#cross #overwhelms #Calvary