Tales of mystery and imagination as York shows passion for performance

When the curtain goes up, it will be one of the biggest theatrical events in York’s history. Sarah Freeman reports on the making of the Mystery Plays.

It may not be quite on the scale of Oberammergau, but it will come pretty close.

Every 10 years, from May to October, the German town stages a Passion Play which in 2010 saw a cast of 2,000 perform to an audience of more than a quarter of a million. The organisers of this year’s Mystery Plays in York are hoping for a more modest crowd of 38,000, but it will still be the biggest theatrical event the city has ever seen.

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The medieval cycle, which tells the story of the Bible from Creation to the Last Judgment, is intertwined with the history of the city. First performed back in the mid 14th century, they ran until 1569 when they were suppressed by the Protestant Reformation.

Revived in 1951 as York’s contribution to the Festival of Britain, the plays were staged every four years, but it was financial rather than religious constraints which marked the end in 1988. The odd amateur production has been staged since, but there’s no getting away from it, putting on the epic story is costly. However, when it returns to the Museum Gardens this summer for the first time in almost a quarter of a century, it won’t just be thanks to a pot of Arts Council cash.

While details of the two professional actors – one will have the dual role of God and Jesus, the other the Devil – have yet to be announced, the rest of the cast is in place, a new script has been delivered, a brass band are on board and a growing band of machinists are already working on costumes.

The Community Producer

When Liam Evans-Ford posted details of the first auditions for this year’s Mystery Plays, he had already set an ambitious target.

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Aside from 500 actors, he and the rest of the artistic team also wanted a similar number to be involved backstage, front of house as well as in the choir and brass band. Any worries they might have been overstretching themselves were short-lived. More than 1,200 volunteers have now signed up and with the first read through just a few weeks away, the hard work is about to begin.

“We will have two alternate casts, partly because it allows us to maximise community involvement, but also we realised that if we asked them to do all 28 performances they would be dead on their feet by the end,” says Liam, who is also founder of Sprite Productions, the company responsible for Ripley Castle’s programme of open air Shakespeare. “While we knew that people in York feel a great sense of attachment to the Mystery Plays, we were completely overwhelmed by the amount of people who wanted to be a part of it.”

While the support has undoubtedly been overwhelming, there has been the odd murmuring of disquiet regarding the decision to set the production in the 20th century.

“It wasn’t something we dreamed up overnight,” says Liam. “We had a lot of meetings and discussions about how we could tell this story so audiences today can relate to it. We are not setting it in the 1940s and 1950s, we are telling it from the perspective from that period.

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“Now that might sound like semantics, but there are various reasons why placing the plays against that backdrop works. In the 1940s, humanity almost destroyed itself in the Second World War, but as we moved into the 1950s, there was an optimism and a belief that the peace would survive. It’s an era which provides an arc from despair to hope. ”

The original plays have been adapted by the Olivier Award-winning Mike Kenny, who was behind the hugely successful The Railway Children and a man with something of a Midas touch when it comes to bringing much loved works to life.

“Mike had every intention of doing something quite radical with the original text, but when he started working on it he realised these are just really good stories and needed very little alteration,” says Liam. “All the pieces are now falling into place, all we need now is for people to come.

“We don’t want this to be a one-off, our aim has always been to see the Mystery Plays back in York every four years just as they were until 1988. A lot rests on what happens in August, but there is such a sense of good will behind us and it feels like the time is right to bring them back.”

The Costume Makers

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In 1984, Becky Marchant was 14 and spent much of that summer working back stage on the Mystery Plays.

“My older brother had been involved in the one four years earlier and I was desperate to be part of it,” she says. “My abiding memory of that summer is my mum cycling down from Acomb every evening and us both riding back home at midnight. I had such a fantastic time and I have still got the scrap book I made. It was that experience that made me realise what I wanted to do.”

A few years later, Becky, who now works as an interior designer, left York for university in Nottingham and a theatre design course, but has recently found herself coming full circle. “I came back to York when I had children and when I saw they were planning to stage the Mystery Plays again I knew I had to be involved.” Becky is now one of a team of costume makers based in a small studio in Holgate who will be responsible for fitting and dressing the 500-strong cast.

“For us, the 1940s and 50s theme is great, because the clothes from that period are just fantastic. We have had so many donations, but the sheer scale of this production means we can always make use of more whether it be 1940s inspired dresses or costume jewellery.

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“The studio has become a real hub for the volunteers and there’s something really lovely about being involved in a project like this.”

The Actors

Back in 1996, Ruth Ford unexpectedly found herself centre stage when she was cast as the York Mystery Plays’ first ever female God. Not everyone approved of the production’s egalitarian approach and amid the furore an article even found its way into the New York Times. Things should be a little quieter this time around. While the veteran of the Mystery Plays is taking on one of the Three Kings, she’s not expecting any backlash from the fact a female Melchior is handing over the frankincense.

“Oh yes, there was such a frightful hoo-ha,” laughs Ruth, who appeared in her first Mystery Play in 1973. “My husband had died earlier that year and I thought being in the production might be a welcome distraction. I’d wanted a part I could really get my teeth into, but even I was surprised that I ended up with God. There was such an uproar I almost considered pulling out. I’m so glad I didn’t, because in the end I had such wonderful time.”

For Ruth, who until recently was president of the York amateur dramatics company, the Settlement Players, the Mystery Plays are much more than simply a chance to perform.

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“It simply fantastic it feels like going home,” she says. “There is some thing really special this kind of theatrical event and seeing them back in the Museums Gardens is just wonderful.”

Those like Ruth, who’ve been there and done it all before, will be sharing the stage with up and coming talent. Nathan Unthank, one of two actors playing Adam, has just received his script, although he hasn’t met his Eve and he definitely knows his costume will be more than a fig leaf.

“I actually wanted a fig leaf,” says the 19-year-old, a former Fulford School pupil. “But I don’t think it goes with the 1940s theme. At the moment I’m just thinking about applying to drama school so for me being in a big production like this in my home city is a good as it gets.”

The Prop Designers

Over at York College, Ed Poxon is poised. The head of art, design and craft is bracing himself for when the final list of props needed for the Mystery Play lands on his desk.

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“Craft making and 3D design is a really overlooked part of this county’s economy, so for us the Mystery Plays will be a bit of showcase for our students,” says Ed. “We’re already looking at 20th-century British artists like Stanley Spencer, who famously painted scenes from the Bible not in Holy Land, but against the backdrop of his own village and to be honest we’ve no shortage of inspiration.

“An event like this should involve as many people as possible and it’s more than just a theatrical event. For us, it’s an opportunity to put ideas into practice and the end result will hopefully be something everyone in York can be proud of.”

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