After a two-year break due to the pandemic ‘La Pasión’ returned to Adeje, the Good Friday performance that has become a regional highlight of Easter Week. This was the 25th edition of the play, with an amateur cast from Adeje and for the first time the format was hybrid, with an hour of cinema, directed by Abraham Gómez Rosales, leading up to the crucifixion which was performed live in the Plaza España. The producer of the overall event was Alberto Álverez.
According to Adeje mayor José Miguel Rodríguez Fraga, “we wanted to make sure we were offering a production that is up the standard Easter Week requires. The people of Adeje responded to the call, as they always do, but this year there was an extra effort needed as we had gone two years without any street representation. This year we also wanted to combine traditional and tourist interests, with a series of additional processions and presentations. We have to thank all those who took part in making the film, I know there were many 12-hour days involved, and this hybrid format now allows us do something different, to overcome the setbacks of the last two years. We are a town that is constantly growing, adapting, we are multicultural, there are many who have come here over the years to make this their home and events such as these bring us together, help us grow as a people”.
The event began at midday with an hour-long film, shown on giant screens in the Plaza España and on regional and national television stations as well as the Adeje council social media networks. Over 800 people were also in the Plaza España to see the film and follow the live action that followed. Cultural councillor Maria Clavijo Maza said that they had also worked to ensure that all security and health control norms were followed.
More than 300 people were involved in the production, including cast, crew, the technical team and Adeje council personnel, who had been working since early January on pre-production, location sourcing, scenery, costumes and props. Among the locations used, all in Adeje, were Teresme, Boca del Paso, Camino de la Virgen, Playa de La Enramada, Diego Hernández, La Quinta and Tijoco La Hoya. Different buildings in the borough were also used, including the Casa Fuerte, the Convento Aqualand and the El Mirador and Bahía del Duque hotels.
Adeje began staging a performance on Good Friday in 1995. The event began as a small production in the Santa Úrsula church, but moved out onto the street when urgent restoration work was being carried, and remained and grew over the years. Each year hundreds of local residents play the main parts and form the crowds needed for the scenes too.
Prior to the pandemic the event drew thousands of visitors to the town every Good Friday, residents and many tourists with the production now listed annually as one of the main Easter events regionally and nationally.
