Work in progress: this will be a page that accompanies my publication-in-progress for the Oxford Handbook of the Cross, in which I will focus on practical techniques for physicalizing a crucifixion, with a prop Cross, during a play. Below, I will gather a sample set of about 20 online videos of twenty-first-century crucifixion plays, to identify shared staging practices across them. The below samples (except for the Riogordo play) come from a simple YouTube search on ["passion play" crucifixion], sorted loosely by number of views (except for the Canadian example). From here, I’ll add YouTube videos from Oberammergau, Jacksonville, Memphis, Atlanta, the Canadian Badlands, and Muthangi, and then leave YouTube and focus on active Passion traditions found through EuroPassion and any of the UK Passion Trust videos that include footage specifically of the Crucifixion. This is not meant to be an exhaustive collation of all crucifixion plays globally (!) but only a sample set.
Spain (Riogordo, Costa del Sol). El Paso de Riogordo (click for source). Video uploaded 2016; still being produced in 2026 (see Europassion). Online video evidence limited to a teaser video, but the teaser includes part of the raising of the Cross.
Full cross carried by single performer (00:32), nailing not included in clip but after scene cut performer has been affixed to horizontal, sky-facing cross, which is lifted to vertical via a rope mechanism (00:35), hinging up with no visible drop-in, feet ~6 ft above ground level.
Canada (Mississauga, Ontario). P&P [St. Peter & Paul Church] Passion Play (discovered on YouTube). Mostly youth actors. Video uploaded 2026; church YouTube account includes video of Passion Plays from 2024 and 2025 using same embedded mechanism (but actors’ bodies don’t all fit the Cross in the same way).
Full cross carried by single performer (in other clips; see link above). Thieves affixed to already-standing crosses. at 05:35 performer is laid onto a horizontal indoor cross in proscenium staging that mostly blocks the nailing from view; screams are audible but nailing is done in a consciously mechanistic, dispassionate way (cued with “1, 2, 3”) as stage hands openly secure the body for safety. Cross is lifted by hand to vertical, ceremoniously slowly and slightly shakily, hinging up with no visible drop-in, with feet ~1.5 ft above stage level.
India (Ramnagar, Hyderabad). St Francis of Assisi Church, Passion Play 2023 (discovered on YouTube). Video uploaded 2024 by a personal account (Charles Fraser) who also documents iterations of this Passion each year from 2017-23 (skipping 2020), but a 2025 article in the Deccan Chronicle reports that the Passion at St Francis Ramnagar is “now in its 25th year.”
Full cross carried by single performer (47:53; note the Soldiers’ realistic prop whips, which seem at 52:21 to have caused real but not permanent distress to the actor’s skin; visibly worse in 2019 version). Thieves affixed to already-standing crosses (visible in 2022). At 52:58 performer is rolled from prone position (2023; in other years lifted from supine) onto a horizontal, sky-facing cross; stretching torture is mimed with a prop rope; pre-set nails, positioned between actor’s fingers, are really hammered a bit farther into the wood (2023 only); performer holds onto nails as ~9 soldiers lift cross/body to ~45 degree angle, dragging bottom along the ground, to be placed (more than dropped) into a hole in the ground. Cross is lifted by hand to vertical, slightly shakily, ending with feet ~4 ft above ground level. Bottom is secured with wooden wedges, seemingly the only securing mechanism, as cross in clip leans a bit rather than reaching a fully vertical position.
Malaysia (Sungai Ara, Penang). Church of Divine Mercy (CDM) Good Friday Service for Children, Passion Play. Video uploaded 2018. Actors all aged 7-12, as reported on the church’s 2019 blog, which refers to productions in 2018 and 2019 (I could not find any further iterations). One of the most watched Passion Play videos on YouTube (over 3 million views).
Full cross carried by single performer (08:14). Performer’s hands put gently through rope loops on already-vertical cross, with feet at ground level.
USA (Woodlawn, North Carolina). Woodlawn Baptist Church, Easter Celebration. Video uploaded 2010 with over 700K views; church YouTube account includes video of less-viewed iterations from 2012 (see 24:03) and 2019 (see 01:13:32); church website retains evidence of an annual event that was produced as late as 2023.
Full (noticeably light) cross carried by single performer (in other clips; see link above). Performer exits and re-enters from behind upstage set (which seems to be built around existing choir architecture), where cross is laid perpendicularly across three stairs, and so at a raked angle. Soldiers mime nailing timed with offstage sound effects. In 2010 only, cross/body is lifted quickly, directly upward from its crossbeam (rather than hinging up from its base as most others seem to), so that four soldiers are holding it up vertically with arms outstretched while a fifth soldier aligns it with a hole, then guides it, somewhat suddenly and quickly for a visible drop-in of ~1.5 ft, ending with feet ~1 ft above top of stairs. In other, later videos, a hole is used downstage of the stairs, with ropes used to lift the cross as it is positioned, but still with a rather sudden rise and drop-in.
USA (Denver, Colorado). He’s Alive: The Passion Play of Denver. Has been running (apparently annually) in Denver since 1985; its production company, Passion Play Ministries International, copyrighted its script and has marketed it globally, supporting community-based iterations (including translations) following the same He’s Alive script and format in 21 locations across the US, Latin America, Africa, and South Asia. Video uploaded 2020 as a “director’s cut” splicing together footage from global productions from prior years (which seem not otherwise, assumedly due to copyright, to be shared online otherwise). The “director’s cut” only shows one crucifixion, the one from Denver (a 2014 bootleg video from Denver shows the staging to have remained consistent in a different year, clarifying it from a different angle).
Full cross carried by single performer (01:36:36). Both thieves also crucified individually (01:34:34) using the same technique as Jesus’ crucifxion. Performer is lifted onto horizontal, indoor cross by soldiers, who mask their nailing by facing upstage (proscenium-style). Cross/body is lifted up by hand from behind (with base already positioned stably near hole) by five Soldiers who start at crossbeam and walk forward down the center beam as it rises. Both official video and bootleg show a particularly sudden drop-in for all three crucifixions, marked as such by timed performer reactions at Jesus’ crucifixion. After drop, performer’s feet are ~3 ft above stage level.