passion play

plural passion plays

1. A play depicting the Passion of Christ.
2. Any analogous religious story of the suffering, death, and resurrection of other gods or goddesses, or of the martyrdom of holy people, such as the Muslim tazia.

   The mysteries of Osiris were celebrated as a passion play, the subject being the sufferings, passion, death and resurrection of Osiris.

   1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 46

3. An overly dramatic depiction or enaction of something, especially when not usually dramatic.