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Passions collide with religion and politics in a trilogy of plays that spans 500 years as we watch flawed humans fail to emulate the lives of the biblical personages they portray in playwright Sarah Ruhl’s Passion Play running at Yale Rep.

In three separate acts, townsfolk in Medieval England, Hitler-led Bavaria and Vietnam-era South Dakota present their annual passion plays amidst the drama of their own scandals, passions and explorations of sexual and political identities. The folks in each era are much the same and related to or involved with each other in similar ways and repeat the same mistakes, which seems to be an implication from Ruhl that either the sins of one generation are visited on the next, or, maybe that these reincarnated folks just haven’t figured out how to break out of the cycle yet.

The saga is simultaneously intriguing and surreal; thought provoking, yet confusing; humorous and disturbing, but in the end, you have to wonder whether the simple message that people don’t really want to be like Christ; they just want to admire him from a distance while they pursue their own passions, really needs a run time of more than three and a half hours. The human dramas played out against the backdrop of the biblical stories are repetitive and don’t lead to any final resolution.

The ensemble cast of 16 (with Joaquin Torres, Felix Solis, Susan Pourfar and Nicole Wiesner in the principal roles), under the direction of Mark Wing-Davey, who also directed the work at Chicago’s Goodman Theater, give strong, distinctive portrayals of their characters across the centuries. Standout performances come in two featured roles. First is Kathleen Chalfant whose characters, Queen Elizabeth (the jewel in costume designer Ilona Somogyi’s crown), Adolph Hitler and Ronald Reagan are involved in stopping each of the plays for political reasons. She really looks and sounds like all three.

Second is Polly Noonan, who plays the village idiot in the first two plays and a 3-year-old turned sixth grader in the third play. Noonan has the role mastered, having played it for Passion Play’s premier at Arena Stage as well for the Goodman run. There’s something chillingly delicious about the wild look in her eye as she menacingly grips her medieval jack-in-the-box while cooing sweetly to it like a friend. In the second play, her fear as she realizes she is being sent to a death camp, is tangible and gripping.

Stark but highly functional sets (from Tony-nominated Allen Moyer) work well with lighting (Stephen Strawbridge), projections (Ruppert Bohle) and sound (Charles Coes) to create an ominously brooding atmosphere. Some large fish, symbolic of the sign used by early Christians, haunt one of the characters and are a nice effect along with some fun angel wings, a nifty wind machine and a truly mystifying table that gushes water.

---- Lauren Yarger

Passion Play plays at the University Theater (222 York Street, New Haven, CT) through Oct. 11. Performances times are 7:30pm Oct. 3, 4, 7, 8,9, 10, 11 with matinees at 2:00pm on Oct. 4 and 11. The 2:00 Oct. 11 performance will be audio described. Tickets are $35-$65. and can be purchased by calling 203-432-1234 or by visiting www.yalerep.org.