I really hope someone picks up Play 1.2.x and maintains it. The Play 2.x alleges to be bi-lingual, Java and Scala, but it's pretty much an Scala version of Play.
Forking Play 1.2.x could be a solution (and maybe remove the python console. After all that's a java framework)
Or.
Or one may use the extensibility of Play 2.x to remove the scala parts javaists don't want. It shouldn't too hard.
Here's a thread on the official forum about it : https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/play-fra...