Tag: York Mystery Plays

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Donna Maria Taylor’s paintings of rugged hills and mountain landscapes rise high at Bluebird Bakery, Acomb from Thursday

Artist Donna Maria Taylor at work in her “bright and airy” Studio 1 at South Bank Studios, York. Picture: Paul Oscar Photography

SOUTH Bank Studios resident artist Donna Maria Taylor’s latest collection of paintings will be on display at Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, from Thursday, when she will attend the 6pm to 9pm launch.

At the invitation of Bluebird artistic curator Jo Walton and bakery co-owner and poet Nicky Kippax, her This Rugged Earth exhibition will run for eight weeks until February 12 2026.

Inspired by the world around her and her travels both here in the United Kingdom and Europe, the majority of the new work nods to her love of rugged hillscapes and mountainous landscapes.

Donna exhibits regularly, this year taking part in York Open Studios, North Yorkshire Open Studios and the Saltaire and Staithes art festivals, as well as exhibiting in Skipton, Danby, Scarborough and Lincoln.

Her Bluebird Bakery exhibition, however, brings her work much closer to home. “Therefore I’m thrilled to have my paintings exhibited here,” she says.

Alongside her professional art practice, Donna is a fully qualified and experienced tutor, offering  regular art workshops in York, as well as art retreats to Southern Morocco, Andalusia in Spain and Tuscany in Italy.

Next year, she will be opening her South Bank studio for the seventh consecutive year for  York Open Studios (April 18/19 and 25/26 2026), and she will exhibit in the main gallery space of York Hospital, Wiggington Road, York, from September 2026 onwards.

The poster for Donna Maria Taylor’s launch of This Rugged Earth at Rise:@Bluebird Bakery

Here, Donna discusses This Rugged Earth, her highly productive 2025 and plans for next September’s York Hospital show with CharlesHutchPress.

Does the look of Rise/Bluebird Bakery influence your choice of artworks to be shown there?

“Only in terms of scaling up the size of some of my paintings to fill the space. Given that I’m used to painting large backdrops in the theatre though, going a little bigger is no real problem. It just means more paint and bigger brushes!

“I do think that the colour palette I’ve been using recently compliments Bluebird’s interiors, but I’m not someone who creates original artwork to match a room. My work is personal to me and hopefully forms a cohesive collection, no matter where it’s shown.”

What draws you to rugged hillscapes and mountainous landscapes? 

“Something within me I guess – maybe it stems from walks I used to enjoy as a child in the Peak District…or family holidays in the Lake District and North Wales? I also spent three  winter seasons working as a ski instructor in the Austrian Alps when I was younger, so maybe that’s it?

Loch Long, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

“I love the drama of rugged landscapes, the fresh air and the connection you have with nature. Although I don’t think I could live permanently in the countryside, I’ll often spend my spare time there – sketching, en-plein-air painting, walking or mountain biking with family and friends.”

Where have you travelled in Europe recently?

“I’ve been lucky enough to travel through quite a few places – Germany, France, Switzerland, Austria – mainly because I chose the ‘slow travel’ option to reach my art retreat destinations.

“I also came back from Italy via Slovenia this time: a place I’ve never visited before. The scenery there is stunning, although you do have to be aware of bears – not something we have to worry about when wandering around in this country…”

How do the opportunities to teach in Morocco, Andalusia and Tuscany come about? What do your sessions cover? 

“They come via word of mouth and recommendations really. My first Moroccan holiday came about when I tripped and broke my foot whilst working on stage in the theatre back in 2018, meaning I couldn’t walk for several months.

Hole Of Horcum, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

“I had a lot of time on my hands and was stuck at home all day, so what was I to do? Make exciting plans for the future, of course!

“I’d already run a couple of art holidays in the UK, so going further afield and combining my love of art and travel felt like the perfect next step. By that point, I’d also had more than 20 years’ experience teaching adults, so I was used to working with a wide range of groups and abilities.

“Sketchbooks have always played an important role on the retreats because they allow you to get out and explore. When you’re somewhere new, that’s essential – so that you really get a sense of the place.

“The sketchbook becomes a sort of visual diary; a real record of your time spent there. Sketchbooks also make the retreats accessible to everyone, from complete beginners onwards.

“I encourage the use of a range of media in them, including watercolour, collage and acrylics. Of course, some people prefer to focus on more finished pieces, and that’s absolutely fine too. As an experienced educator you learn to adapt to each person’s needs.”

La Tania, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

What do your art classes and workshops cover?

“There’s a wide range of media and techniques: watercolours, inks, acrylic, print, collage, pastels and oils. I try to encourage learners to experiment, play with the mediums and really develop their own style, but observational drawing is also an important and fundamental part of it all too. It’s all about ‘learning to see’ and creating your own visual language.

“I think coming from a theatre background really has given me a multi-disciplinary approach to both my art and my teaching.”

How did your exhibitions in 2025 compare and contrast: Skipton, Danby, Scarborough, Lincoln, York Open Studios, North Yorkshire Open Studios (NYOS), Saltaire, Staithes and York Hospital (from November 2025 to February 2026)? It sounds like a very busy, very productive year. 

“Yes, I perhaps packed a little too much into my calendar this year, but I do like to keep busy. The exhibitions organised through NYOS, York Hospital and the gallery were fantastic for getting my work out in front of new audiences, but festivals and events are quite different because you get to meet and engage with the people who want to talk to you about your work, so it becomes far more interactive and personal.

Les Chenus, 2025, by Donna Maria Taylor

“Also, you’re often working alongside other artists at events too, which I love. It’s harder work but very rewarding.”

Looking ahead, what will you exhibit in the York Hospital main gallery space from next September?

“New work that hopefully doesn’t exist yet! As an artist, I’m always striving to stretch myself and find new ways of expressing myself, so the answer to that really is ‘watch this space’…”

What is the function of art in a hospital? 

“Having art in hospitals genuinely makes a difference to the lives of patients, visitors and staff alike. I know this from personal experience but also from the lovely messages people sometimes send me to tell me how much seeing my work has meant to them or made their day.”

Donna Maria Taylor: back story

ORIGINALLY from South Yorkshire, Donna completed Art Foundation course after A-levels, followed by degree in Multi-disciplinary Design.

Began career in Stoke-on-Trent as textile and ceramic tile/mural designer before gaining  a distinction in her Postgraduate Diploma in Theatre Design.

Led to long and varied career in theatre design and production, allowing her to draw on wide range of creative skills. Worked in theatres across UK and abroad before moving to York in 2000 to take up post of full-time scenic artist at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds.

Continues to work regularly with Yorkshire theatres, including Leeds Playhouse and York Theatre Royal, where she served as prop maker and workshop facilitator for this summer’s community production, His Last Report.

Well known for creating large-scale animal puppets that first appeared in the York Minster Mystery Plays, From Darkness Into Light, in 2016.

Alongside her theatre work, Donna contributes to community art projects, including  two pieces inspired by the work of artist John Piper, now on display at Southlands Methodist Church.

Based at Studio 1, South Bank Studios, Southlands Methodist Church, Bishopthorpe Road,
York, where you can visit her by appointment (donnataylorart@icloud.com) .

Join her  mailing list at https://donnamariataylor.us20.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=f53feedf07e7c7ef532cecaba&id=a9ce963475 to be the first to learn of her latest art news, including information on new courses, workshops and art holidays to Morocco, Spain and Italy.

View Donna’s paintings and learn more about her extensive career in the arts at: www.donnamariataylor.com. She is on Facebook: @DonnaTaylorArt; Instagram: @donnataylorart.

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REVIEW: York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust in A Nativity for York, The Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton, York

Isobel Staton’s beatific Mary in York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s A Nativity for York. Picture: John Saunders

YORK Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s new interpretation of the Nativity moves on to St James the Deacon Church Hall, Acomb, tonight (5/12/2024) and tomorrow, then St Oswald’s Church Hall, Fulford, on Saturday.

This chimes with the need to move in a story set in a time of threat when a homeless couple and their newborn baby are driven from home by oppressors.

Past productions have taken place in the Spurriergate Centre in York city centre, but taking a community production out into the community is a potent way to spread the message, all the more so in a year when taking flight has regularly been in the headlines.

CharlesHutchPress attended the Saturday matinee at The Tithe Barn in Nether Poppleton, the most spartan of the three locations, with its bare brickwork and stone-flagged floor, and therefore the closest in spirit to the stable in Bethlehem, albeit bigger and warmer, once the mulled wine served on arrival settled in.

Minstrel/balladeer Jonathan Brockbank sets the tone on Early Music whistle and drum instruments, later accompanying the Angel Choir of Emily Hansen, Trisha Campbell, Val Burgess, Wilma Edwards and Julie Speedie and leading the closing carol, The Bells Of Paradise I Heard Them Ring, with audience participation to boot.

Director Paul Toy’s inspiration for his latest Nativity production was the 1609 prosecution of a troupe of Catholic actors for performing a play that ridiculed a Protestant minister. Based at Egton on the North York Moors, they had established a safe circuit of Catholic gentry households they could tour, but a spy had infiltrated the audience and reported them.

There will surely be no spying, no reporting in 2024, save of the reviewing variety, but Toy’s programme note warrants quoting. “As we are touring a version of the Plays for the first time, I was inspired to set the production as if the Mystery Plays had continued their suppression [banned for ‘Catholic content’ in 1568] but as an underground, illicit activity – depending on secrecy for support of these clandestine performances of a play promoting banned religious doctrine in a time of oppression, always vulnerable to the outside authorities.

“The actors’ interpretation of the plays is influenced by their experience as outsiders.” You can debate whether actors are “outsiders” in today’s world, but reduced arts funding and cuts in arts provision in schools and colleges point to that status returning.

Division and destruction in the actions of Herod are as much at play in A Nativity for York as the message of great joy and hope. Toy’s direction favours the minimalist, the focus falling on the delivery of text and human interaction, rather than a box of theatrical tricks, bells and whistles (except for Brockbank’s).

He has his cast omnipresent, sitting on the benches that line the barn walls when not in scenes, with a raised stage at one end to accommodate stable scenes and Herod’s edicts.

James Tyler’s Herod is both hot-headed and chilling, with Wilma Edwards’s viperous Counsellor urging him to ill action at every opportunity. By way of contrast, Helen Jarvis’s Angel Gabriel has a suitably radiant presence.

The chemistry of Nick Jones’s aged Joseph and Isobel Staton’s young Mary is crucial, and their combination of contrast and yet connection works well. Jones portrays Joseph’s disbelief, puzzlement, yet support with typical attention to detail from this experienced hand, who adds a second woodwind instrument on occasion too. Staton’s Mary is the essence of devoted duty, resolute and loving in all she does.

Michael Maybridge, Sally Maybridge and David Denbigh take on the shepherds’ roles with banter and wonderment, while the Kings – or Wise Men – are played by three Wise Women (Val Burgess, Emily Hansen and Janice Newton). At the play’s close too, when everyone else has left the stage, it is Mary who leads off Joseph.

Amid the starkness of design, one moment has particular resonance: in the soldiers’ slaughter of the innocents, each bairn’s death is signified by a cloak being turned from its black side to its red side. No image is more striking. Models of two cow’s heads in the manger were a rare but welcome artistic flourish.

The choice of music pays dividends for studious research. The Kyrie, for example, was written by Roman Catholic composer William Byrd for a recusant household while the folk carols are suffused with Catholic sensibility too: the outsider in Protestant times.

York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust presents A Nativity for York, St James the Deacon Church Hall, Acomb, December 5 and 6, 7.30pm, then St Oswald’s Church Hall, Fulford, December 7, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Suitable for adults and children aged 11 plus. Box office: 0333 666 3366, at ympst.co.uk/nativitytickets or on the door, subject to availability. Donations will be welcomed after each performance for the work of UNICEF.

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York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust heads out on neighbourhood tour of A Nativity for York full of joy and hope from tonight

Isobel Staton’s Mary in rehearsal for York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s A Nativity for York. Picture: John Saunders

YORK Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s new and unique interpretation of the Nativity, dramatising events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays, opens at The Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton, York, tonight.

Directed once more by Paul Toy, the hour-long touring community production is set in a time of threat when a homeless couple and their newborn baby are driven from home by oppressors.

Likewise, this production is on the move, following up today and tomorrow’s Poppleton performances with visits to St James the Deacon Church Hall, Acomb, on December 5 and 6, then St Oswald’s Church Hall, Fulford, on December 7.

Toy’s vision for his staging is “that of an underground, secret activity; clandestine performances of a play promoting banned religious doctrine in a time of oppression”.

Manuda Fernando (Herod’s son), left, Wilma Edwards (Counsellor), James Tyler (Herod) and Tricia Campbell (Counsellor) in the rehearsal room. Picture: John Saunders

Bringing the Christmas story of events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ to York neighbourhoods, Toy’s production recalls a time in the 17th century when the Mystery Plays were banned for being too Roman Catholic. Performers were forced to perform illegally in the houses of sympathisers, always looking out for establishment forces.

Paul says: “Although A Nativity for York reflects the experience of those dedicated but frightened performers, the story itself mirrors the trouble many people are experiencing today: a homeless couple, seeking shelter with their new-born child, being forced to flee to another country, leaving behind scenes of unimaginable horror. While it mirrors both history and our current world situation, there is news of great hope and joy.”

Supporters Trust chair Linda Terry adds: “The trust is delighted to be touring the production around three of York’s suburbs. Our aim is to give people the chance to see a performance from one of York’s great cultural traditions on their doorstep. The hour-long performance of words and music promises to both challenge and delight the audience.”

Traditionally, The Nativity performances celebrate the birth of Jesus into the life of humankind. “Beloved when performed by young children, this story is not a simple tale of unmitigated joy,” says Paul. “It is a cold, cruel world that the baby arrives in. People are subjugated by an occupying power, and some are doomed to pay a price of unimaginable suffering. But the birth also gives optimism and the hope of a better future.

Nick Jones’s Joseph rehearsing a scene for A Nativity for York. Picture: John Saunders

“In our production, we re-create the experiences of those who aimed to keep the story of the Mystery Plays alive at a time when they were banned because their Catholic content was unacceptable to Protestant rulers.

“A band of actors from Egton on the North York Moors kept the flame burning with secret performances in the houses of Catholic landowners – one step ahead of the authorities. Now, join us for an hour when we bring to life that team of fear, of punishment, of homelessness, but also a time of great hope and joy.”

 York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust presents A Nativity for York, The Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton, York, November 29, 7.30pm, and November 30, 2.30pm and 7.30pm; St James the Deacon Church Hall, Acomb, December 5 and 6, 7.30pm; St Oswald’s Church Hall, Fulford, December 7, 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Suitable for adults and children aged 11 plus. Box office: 0333 666 3366 or https://ympst.co.uk/nativitytickets and on the door (cash or card), subject to availability.

York Mystery Plays: back story

WRITTEN in medieval times, 48 plays, once performed in the streets by the city’s Guilds, tell the Biblical story from Creation to Judgement Day, including the life of Jesus Christ.

 York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust is a registered charity, a group of volunteers aiming to keep the story of the York Mystery Plays alive.

Who is in the cast?

The Shepherds, David Denbigh, left, Michael Maybridge and Sally Maybridge in rehearsal for A Nativity for York

Balladeer/Minstrel: Jonathan Brockbank
Symeon/Soldier I: David Lancaster
Anna/Counsellor II: Clare Halliday
The Angel Gabriel: Helen Jarvis
Mary: Isobel Staton
Elizabeth/Counsellor I: Wilma Edwards
Joseph: Nick Jones
Neighbour II/Maidservant/Angel: Trisha Campbell
King I/Neighbour I: Val Burgess
King II/Mother I: Emily Hansen
King III: Madusha Fernando/Janice Newton
Shepherd I: Michael Maybridge
Shepherd II/Mother II: Sally Maybridge
Shepherd III/Soldier II: David Denbigh
Herod: James Tyler
Filius/Herod’s Son: Manuda Fernando
Messenger: Oliver Howard
Star Angel: Julie Speedie
Angel Choir: Emily Hansen, Trisha Campbell, Val Burgess, Wilma Edwards and Julie Speedie

Cast members act in ensemble parts.

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Dame Judi Dench to return home to York for I Remember It Well in conversation with Gyles Brandreth at Grand Opera House

The poster for Dame Judi Dench and Gyles Brandreth’s night of stories, sonnets and surprises at the Grand Opera House, York, on October 10

DAME Judi Dench is heading home to York for one night only in a special performance at the Grand Opera House on October 10.

Stage, film and television actress Dame Judi, 89, will be joined on stage at 7.30pm by television presenter, theatre producer, journalist, author, publisher and former Conservative MP for the City of Chester Gyles Brandreth.

Together they will present their sell-out West End and Royal Albert Hall show, I Remember It Well with Judi Dench & Gyles Brandreth. Tickets go on general sale at 10am on August 2 at atgtickets.com/york, preceded by ATG+ members 24 hours earlier.

Dame Judi joins her friend Gyles on a roller-coaster trip down memory lane as they explore the story of her extraordinary life, from her childhood in Heworth, York, in the 1930s to her latest Oscar nomination – for Best Supporting actress in Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast – in  2022. Expect moments from Shakespeare and anecdotes aplenty – stories, sonnets and surprises – in a “two-hour party of lifetime”.

Educated at The Mount School, and later briefly at the York School of Art, Dame Judi played a “forgetful angel” in the 1951 York Mystery Plays, staged by the St Mary’s Abbey ruins in the York Museum Gardens in the first revival since their suppression in 1569.

This was followed by her roles as a “young man in white clothing” in the 1954 production and the Virgin Mary in 1957, after completing her studies at the Central School of Speech Training and Dramatic Art. That year she made her professional theatrical debut as Ophelia in Hamlet at the Old Vic, London.

Her stage and screen career has taken in the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre; the television series A Fine Romance and As Time Goes By; the role of M in the James Bond franchise from 1995’s GoldenEye to M’s death in 2012’s Skyfall, and an Oscar win, among eight nominations from 1997 to 2022, for Best Supporting Actress in Shakespeare In Love in 1998.

Six film BAFTAs, three television BAFTAs, two Golden Globes, two Screen Actors’ Guild awards, seven Oliviers, one Tony award and three Evening Standard Theatre awards have come her way too.

Here in York, Dame Judi received receive the honour of Millennium Person of the Present award at York Mansion House in 2000, was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of York in 2002 and has had a riverside walkway, Dame Judi Dench Walk, named after her.

On the theatre front, although Dami Judi will be appearing at the Grand Opera House this autumn, she is a patron of York Theatre Royal.

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Blazing Grannies to premiere F Mary Callan’s Bible stories, Voices From The Wilderness, at Spurriergate Centre, York

The poster artwork for Blazing Grannies’ Voices From The Wilderness

BLAZING Grannies stage F Mary Callan’s new play Voices From The Wilderness at the Spurriergate Centre, Spurriergate, York, from tonight to Saturday.

Directed by Baron Productions’ Daniel Wilmot, this Bible show is “designed to plug the gap caused by the lack of York’s big Mystery Plays this year”. 

“My script is a parade of Old Testament characters telling their ‘inside stories’, followed by a few New Testament characters, leading to Christ’s crucifixion and Resurrection,” says Mary, a poet, storyteller and trained catechist in the Middlesbrough diocese.

“I have performed many of them in my one-woman Bible shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, but they have been taken to a new level under Daniel’s lively direction. Our team of amateur actors, playing multiple roles, are incredible.”

Rooted in dramatic and tragic ancient human stories from the Bible and the Quran, Voices From The Wilderness invites this week’s audiences to “discover God’s kindness to Adam and Eve after their disobedience; wander across the wilderness with Moses; flee from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, so close to modern Gaza.

“Be baffled with Joseph, wondering how to handle a surprise pregnancy. Grieve with the bereaved parents in Bethlehem. Listen to the soldiers tormenting their surprise prisoner, Jesus from Nazareth: is he really the King of the Jews?”.”

Callan’s script, in keeping with the medieval Mystery Plays, seeks to “makes the Bible stories utterly relevant to our own era’s trauma and anxieties, leading us, finally, to hope the impossible”.

The cast comprises Phyllis Carson-Smith, Wilma Edwards, Adam Marsdin, Michael Maybridge, Julie Speedie and Pietro Spicer.

For tickets, go to: ticketsource.co.uk/blazing-grannies.

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York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s young directors to stage A Creation For York trilogy around Micklegate on June 1

Katie Smith: Directing The Creation Of Man at St Columba’s, Priory Street

YORK Mystery Plays Supporters Trust will stage A Creation For York on June 1 in a promenade production around Micklegate in runs at 2pm and 3.30pm.

Three aspiring directors mentored by Dr Tom Straszewski, a past director of the York Wagon Play cycle, will be presenting their visions of a trilogy of 20-minute plays from the Creation cycle with a community cast and production team.

The promenade procession will start with The Creation Of Man at St Columba’s, Priory Street, at 2pm and 3.30pm, and progress to Holy Trinity, Micklegate, for The Fall Of Man at 3pm and 4.30pm, then onwards to St Martin’s Stained Glass Centre, Micklegate, for Cain And Abel at 4pm and 5.30pm. On each run, the weary traveller can enjoy refreshments before the third play begins at St Martin’s.

Katie Smith, director of The Creation Of Man, studied acting at Plymouth Conservatoire and is undertaking a Masters in English Literary Studies in York.

“The essence of any piece of theatre is a vision made a reality through the work of a group of artists,” says Katie. “My own vision for The Creation was inspired by workshops of the Italian Renaissance and the artists and polymaths of that time, and so God became a master artist, an inventor, architect, scientist.

“Lucifer was a talented, arrogant apprentice, the other angels hard-working assistants, and the performance space became a bustling art studio, bringing God’s vision to life.

“In turning these ideas into a reality, I have had the privilege of working with an incredibly talented group of artists, from the actors you see on stage, to our composer, set designers, costume makers, and countless others.

“For a performance so centred on the concept of ‘creation’, their work is not just vital in bringing the piece to life, but a reflection of the imagination, creativity, and artistry at the heart of the play.”

In Katie’s cast will be: Daniel Wilmot as Deus; Harry Summers, Lucifer; Colin Lea, Diabolus; Tess Wingard, Seraphyn/Clarinet; Julie Speedie, Cherabyn; Samuel Jackson, Adam, and Joy Warner, Eve. 

Dan Norman: Director of The Fall Of Man at Holy Trinity, Micklegate

Dan Norman, directing The Fall Of Man, is a writer who has directed short films and is venturing into directing theatre for the first time.

“Reading through the three Mystery Plays that make up The Fall Of Man, it is striking how separate Adam and Eve are,” says Dan. “Adam speaks with the Angel, and Eve speaks with Satan, but there’s no interaction between them until Eve persuades Adam to eat the apple.  Their most prolonged conversation is the climactic argument.

“Adam and Eve’s relationship is uniquely strange. Eve was custom-made for Adam – but from the same material has become someone very different to him. Shared humanity must be an odd concept when you are the first humans, and being a partner holds extra significance when you are the only two people.

“At the start of the play, the Angel instructs Adam and Eve that ‘from this hour ye never twin’. The commandment not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge sticks with them, but this one they seem to forget. Maybe it was just as important.”

Dan’s cast comprises David Lancaster as the Angel; Val Burgess, Satan; Nicola Peard, Eve; Oliver Howard, Adam, and David Denbigh, God/Violin.

Isobel Staton, in charge of Cain And Abel, has completed her PhD in Medieval History and has worked with the Lords of Misrule at the University of York.

“In The Sacrifice Of Cain And Abel, humanity reaps the harvest that was sown during The Fall Of Man,” she says. “The children of Adam and Eve – Cain and Abel – must toil to grow and raise their food by ‘the sweat of [their] brow’. Following his father, Cain takes uparable farming, struggling to grow a crop which is not overtaken by thorns and briars while his harvest gets smaller year on year.

“Abel, on the other hand, takes up sheep-farming and is blessed with bounty and relaxation (although outside a play I would never suggest that sheep-farming was easy work!).

“From Cain and Abel’s differing experiences of farming grows resentment, jealousy, deeply different relationships to God, and a conflicting attitude to tithing and sacrifice. What began as a rift between Adam and Eve ends in murder with their sons.

Isobel Staton: Directing Cain And Abel at St Martin’s Stained Glass Centre, Micklegate

“The script of York’s Cain And Abel has been partially lost. In this performance, that lost portion has been filled with an extract from The Murder Of Abel from the Towneley cycle (a related mystery play tradition thought to have been performed in Wakefield), which shares many of the same preoccupations and tensions.”

Isabel’s cast will feature James Tyler as Cain, Allyson Butler as Abel and Charlotte Turner as the Angel, along with musician Jonathan Brockbank and singer Evie Hartley-Rapson.

Music for the production has been composed by musical director Desmond Clarke, who is joined in the production team by producers Emily Hansen and Janice Newton, wardrobe trio Trisha Campbell, Beverley Foster and Claire Little and set and prop designers Richard Hampton, Linda Lockett and Jon Mills.

Looking forward to next weekend, trust chair Linda Terry says: “We are thrilled to offer the opportunity to new directors to take part in York’s heritage tradition and to offer them the benefit of Dr Tom Straszewski’s support. 

“We decided to make this a promenade production with the audience moving between three venues: St Columba’s, Priory Street, Holy Trinity, Micklegate, and St Martin’s Stained Glass Centre, Micklegate. They will be guided on the short walking distance between the venues by cast members.  

“Micklegate was the historical start for performance of the Mystery Plays in the medieval period, so it seems appropriate to bring them back to their home ground. We’ve had terrific support from the venues themselves in staging the event.”

Tickets are on sale at ympst.co.uk/creation. One ticket gives access to all three plays.

In addition, the trio of plays will be performed for the residents of Hartrigg Oaks, in New Earswick, on June 15 as part of the care home’s 25th anniversary celebrations.

Coming next

YORK Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s next production will be A Nativity For York, touring to The Tithe Barn, Nether Poppleton, St James the Deacon Church Hall, Acomb, and St Oswald’s Church Hall, Fulford, between November 29 and December 7; seven performances in all.

Dr Tom Straszewski: Mentoring three young directors for A Creation For York
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York Shakespeare Project deep into rehearsals for first full-scale production by Bard rival, Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II

James Lee, left, as Gaveston and Jack Downey as Edward II in rehearsal for York Shakespeare Project’s Edward II. All reheasal pictures: John Saunders

AT the heart of phase two of York Shakespeare Project over the next 25 years is the mission to stage not only all of Shakespeare’s plays, but also the finest works of his contemporaries.

Next week, the Bard’s rival in focus will be playwright, poet and translator Christopher “Kit”  Marlowe, writer of The Tragicall History of Dr Faustus; Tamburlaine The Great; Dido, Queen Of Carthage; Edward II; The Massacre At Paris and The Jew Of Malta.

York Shakespeare Project (YSP) will stage his intimate historical tragedy Edward II (The Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England) under the direction of Tom “Strasz” Straszewski at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, from October 17 to 21 at 7.30pm plus a 2.30pm Saturday matinee.

Strasz previously directed The Merry Wives Of Windsor in 2012 and The Two Noble Kinsmen in 2018, now joining Paul Toy, Mark France and Ben Prusiner as three-time directors for YSP. 

“We were delighted that Tom emerged from a strong field to be chosen as the director of the first non-Shakespeare play of YSP’s new project,” says chair Tony Froud.

“Strasz brings great knowledge and wide experience of directing Elizabethan and Jacobean drama and promises an innovative interpretation of Marlowe’s fascinating text.”

Cassi Roberts, left, as Kent and Emma Scott as Young Mortimer

Edward II is king at last. Determined to shower his loved ones with gifts, he summons his exiled lover, Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall. In the face of a king, court and country intoxicated by their passions, the Queen takes her own lover, whereupon the nation is torn apart in a merciless divorce. Their child watches from the shadows, desperate to mend this broken family and nation or bring them to heel.

“This is a play about power and love – who has it, who gives it, who takes it, and who suffers for it,” says Tony. “For this production, we began by exploring the play through creative workshops, editing a script that reflects the people in the room. No characters were cast until after this process.”

Strasz’s cast will be led by Jack Downey as Edward II, James Lee as Gaveston and Danae Arteaga Hernandez as Isabel. Joining them will be Emma Scott as Young Mortimer; Effie Warboys, Princess Edie; Adam Kadow, Spenser; Cassi Roberts, Kent; Alan Sharp, Warwick, and James Tyler as Lancaster/Gurvey.

So too will be Stuart Lindsay as The Bishop; Elizabeth Painter, Margaret de Clare; Charlie Barrs, Maltravers; Harry Summers, Mortimer Senior; Tom Jennings, Lightborn; Emily Hansen, Pembroke, and Robyn Jankel, Philippa of Hainault.

Drawing on personal responses to the script and their own experiences, Strasz’s cast members bring a fresh and modern perspective to Marlowe’s 1592 work. “Like Marlowe himself, we wanted to focus less on historical accuracy or psychological realism, and instead as a fantasia of power and love. This is a fearful England,” says the director, who was at the helm of York Mystery Plays productions in 2018 and 2022.

Cassi Roberts, left, back, as Kent, Emma Scott as Young Mortimer, James Lee as Gaveston, Thomas Jennings as Lightborn, Stuart Lindsay as the Bishop, Emily Hansen as Pembroke and Alan Sharp as Warwick

“Edward, his court and his child all try to protect themselves, but without uniting together they’re vulnerable. Edward is usually portrayed as a weak king, but we found this to be untrue:  Marlowe presents him as somebody who fights fiercely to protect his loved ones, despite his hatred of war and the devastation it brings.

When his lover, Gaveston, is brutally murdered, he finally becomes the king the medieval nobles want him to be – warmongering, merciless, elitist – and it’s to everybody’s cost.”

For James Lee (Gaveston), the play touches on contemporary issues of cancel culture, celebrity and social mobility, with his character destroyed for daring to reach above his station.

“I think Marlowe would get a real kick out of how relevant his characters are. In a world of tabloids and gossip, characters like Gaveston rise and fall every day,” he says. “Social mobility is championed and demonised. We’re never allowed to forget the roles we are supposed to play, regardless of our dreams.”

To aid accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members, all performances will include closed captions.

Tickets are available at tickets.41monkgate.co.uk or by emailing the box office at boxoffice@41monkgate.co.uk.

The poster for York Shakespeare Project’s Edward II
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Paul Burbridge (1953-2023): A tribute

Paul Burbridge: Artistic director of Riding Lights Theatre Company for more than 40 years

A SERVICE of thanksgiving and celebration for the life of Riding Lights Theatre Company artistic director Paul Burbridge (1953-2023) will be held at St Michael le Belfrey, High Petergate, York, on June 10 at 2pm. All are welcome.

Paul, who ran the Christian theatre company and Friargate Theatre artistic programme in Lower Friargate, York, died on April 19 after a short illness.  

A statement from the board and staff on the Riding Lights website reads: “Paul, along with Nigel Forde and Murray Watts, founded Riding Lights in 1977, and led the company for over 40 years with unwavering vision and extraordinary creativity.

“His commitment to the company and to all who encountered it in any way was inspiring and infectious, as were his kindness, warmth and humour.

“He was an encourager, guide, mentor and friend to many, whose faith and faithfulness to God flowed into the lives of others. Riding Lights was his life’s work, his calling, and a source of deep joy to him.

“We know that this will come as a great shock and sadness to many, and that you may wish to be in touch with the company. Any messages can be sent to info@rltc.org , and we will do our best to respond in due course.”

The statement concludes: “There will be an opportunity to make donations to Riding Lights in memory of Paul, in order to continue the work he loved. In the meantime, we value your prayers of thanksgiving for Paul’s life, for all of us at Riding Lights, and most of all for Bernadette [Paul’s wife], Patrick, Caitlin and Erin, that they may be comforted and surrounded by the love of God.”

Here CharlesHutchPress reflects on Paul Burbridge’s contribution to York’s theatre world with Damian Cruden, artistic director of York Theatre Royal from 1997 to 2019.

“WHEN I started, we met up, and right from the word go, Paul was one of those people who was always very welcoming and very easy to have a conversation with and always very constructive too,” remembers Damian, now CEO and artistic director of Alnwick Playhouse in Northumberland.

“The first major piece we did together was the Riding Lights/Theatre Royal collaboration on African Snow [Murray Watts’s play about slave ship captain John Newton, of Amazing Grace fame], directed by Paul in 2007. We then did Three Men In A Boat, directed by Paul at the Theatre Royal in April 2008.”

Paul had first adapted Jerome K Jerome’s late-Victorian tale of a trip up the Thames 18 years earlier for Riding Lights, reuniting with his original designer, Sean Cavanagh, for his Theatre Royal version of Jerome’s riparian mishaps and ineptitudes.

A community production of Anthony Minghella’s Two Planks And A Passion, co-directed by Paul and Theatre Royal associate director Juliet Forster in the round at the Theatre Royal in July 2011, was to be the precursor to the zenith of the Theatre Royal and Riding Lights creative partnership: the 2012 York Mystery Plays in the Museum Gardens.

“Paul was just very easy to work with because he always gave space,” says Damian, his co-director for that unforgettable open-air production. “He didn’t have an ego about himself. Instead, his artistic ego connected with the work of the community that he inspired. Above all, he was just really good fun to be with.

“For years, around the time of the opening of the panto, we cooked  a Christmas dinner in two sittings, one for the panto cast in the afternoon and then everyone else from the two companies in the evening, with the executives of the Theatre Royal and Riding Lights doing all the cooking.

“Afterwards, Paul would usually arrange a cabaret of some sort, with music and Paul doing some sketches as he was very amusing. Very Pythonesque, with a real sense of the absurdity of the world.”

Damian recalls how Paul’s faith was his bedrock. “We talked about it in depth when we were doing the Mystery Plays together; Paul as someone of faith, me as someone not of faith, wondering whether that would be difficult, and what it would mean in terms of creating the work, which I saw primarily as a big story, but for him it had a very different resonance,” he says.

“It was very important to have that mix,  people who have faith, people who were agnostic,  with me and Mike [writer Mike Kenny] as non-believers, Paul and Sean (designer Sean Cavanagh) as believers. It never got in the way at all. It was always very much about focusing on the telling of the story, and I think that faith was an important aspect in how we discussed it.

“I don’t think the production would have been as meaningful without that balance. The community cast that told that story was of a similar diversity of belief and non-belief, who discovered respect for each other’s position, and that was testament to Paul’s ability as an artist and leader to be magnanimous, to allow space, to be so highly inspirational in that way.

“He always wore his faith lightly but with an incredible depth of belief. I would say his faith was unshakeable, and his perception of the world found him working with faith groups in Palestine, stretching across faiths and the barriers that had been created.”

Paul was instrumental in Riding Lights establishing its headquarters in Lower Friargate in May 2000, taking over the 19th century building that previously had housed the Friargate Wax Museum until its closure in 1996.

Aptly, the opening production in the 100-seat studio theatre was Ben Jonson’s satire, The Alchemist, Paul having converted the base metals of a redundant museum into the universal elixir of theatrical gold.

“He was a very good leader, very intelligent, very knowledgeable, very talented,” says Damian. “He wasn’t self-obsessed and always knew why he was doing what he was.

“Riding Lights has been very successful in terms of its shows but also in terms of fulfilling its purpose. It’s a really important venue in York with a really strong commitment to youth theatre and a very clear sense of the community around it, which all theatres need to have.

“While its mission revolves around faith, you don’t feel like you’re going to have a religious diatribe when you go to a show. In many ways, Paul’s work has been superbly humanist, focusing on humanity. Very grounded, very connected.”

Reflecting further on Pauls’ leadership prowess, Damian says: “He would be one of the first people to say Riding Lights wasn’t just about him. He chose people around him that were good at what they did and that let Riding Lights become a potent organisation.”

Assessing Paul’s legacy, Damian starts by saying: “If you just think about the number of people who got up and strutted their stuff because Paul made it possible: whether through the youth theatre, summer projects, presenting work by community theatre companies and welcoming touring performers, on top of putting on all those Riding Lights productions.

“He made all that possible within York, and I can’t imagine how many people he’s influenced. All those people who started out at Riding Lights, it’s a huge list, all inspired by Paul and what the company stands for.”

Looking at Paul’s wider legacy, Damian says. “I hope that York continues to be a place that is absolutely engaged in presenting work that is there for the community and the creativity of that community, and that it remains something that is valued and given proper support.

“In a way, that’s the thing that would most upset Paul: if community creativity were left to wither on the vine. Community theatre, and the broad spectrum it covers, requires constant nurturing: the way Paul did it.

“He was a theatre gardener, knowing how to make sure the garden of theatre could survive in straitened time and be rich and productive in good times.”

God bless you, Paul, and thank you, guiding light of Riding Lights and Friargate Theatre.

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REVIEW: Charles Hutchinson’s verdict on York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust, A Nativity for York, Spurriergate Centre, York

Anastasia Crook’s Mary with infant Jesus wrapped in swaddling bands in A Nativity for York. All pictures: John Saunders

COVID cancelled last winter’s edition of A Nativity for York and did its worst to scupper this year’s return after a two-year absence.

Nine out of 16 cast members had tested positive during rehearsals, one actor’s all-important negative reading on the day of the dress rehearsal ensuring clearance for take-off.

Divine intervention, you might say, and the arrival of this new-born production under the guiding light of Alan Heaven’s direction is indeed something of a miraculous conception. The very subject of A Nativity, of course.

The shepherds: James Tyler, left, Effie Warboys and Mark Comer

Note the title: A Nativity for York. Heaven’s production is the essence of community theatre, rooted in York’s unrivalled mediaeval Cycle of Mystery Plays. From the streets, those plays move indoors, onto the stone slabs of the ever-convivial Spurriergate Centre, where mulled wine and mince pies spice up the arrival scene.

Writer, director and designer Heaven has constructed a backdrop as if from a builders’ guild – ladders, a plank, dust sheets, work bench – affording a mezzanine level for the Angel Gabriel, and providing the edifice for drapes of changing colours: blue to signify Anastasia Crook’s Mary; red for Nick Jones’s ruthless Herod; black for the hellish scene of Herod’s slaughter of the babes.

Even a clothes line pops up to emphasise the Mystery Plays’ meeting point between the utilitarian and the work of the Lord.

Nick Jones’s Herod and Wilma Edwards’s Chamberlain at a helluva party

Storytelling theatre lies at the heart of Heaven’s Nativity, a familiar story but here told with fresh imagination, shards of humour, especially for Michael Maybridge’s disbelieving, weary Joseph and the shepherds, peppered with bursts of traditional song and communal dance, to the accompaniment of arrangements by The Bertie Set, played by Diane Heaven (keyboards) and Petra Wade (recorders).

Alice Melton’s all-in-flowing-white Angel Gabriel has a shimmering radiance and even a hint of Shakespeare’s Puck when she rouses Joseph from his slumbers with a nudge in the back.

Crook’s Mary – the role every (competitive) girl wanted to play in the school Nativity Play – is played with virtue, calm purpose and awe-struck duty by Crook, with Sally Maybridge’s Anna often by her side.

The Massacre of the Innocents under Herod’s orders

Mark Comer’s Symeon is central to the lovely opening scene under an umbrella as the company spins around him in a whirl of ribbons. Harold Mozley, Daniiel Zavalniuk and Rachel Curnow’s earnest Kings contrast with the country-bumpkin airs of James Tyler and Effie Warboys, sheep under her arm, as they lead the audience in a participatory folk song that needed more clarity on Wednesday to make out what exactly chorus line was when urged to join in.

Jones’s Herod, dapper in his waistcoat and coat but devil-red in his butchery, has a sparring relationship with his truculent son (Tristan Heaven), in the tradition of theatrical fraternal frictions. Their scenes heighten the drama with a Shakespearean edge.

In keeping with Heaven’s renderings of the Last Judgement in wagon plays on the streets of York, the visual peak is the Massacre of the Innocents under Herod’s orders, a scene of terror and horror as the mothers’ screams pierce the night chill. Where earlier the ribbons signified joyful news, now they represent the guts of slaughtered children.

Anastasia Crook’s Mary, seated, in a joyous scene in York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust’s A Nativity for York

As Alan Heaven puts it: “Our production is built on juxtapositions of light and dark, joy and despair, community and isolation as we witness the depths of human suffering alongside the hope brough by the birth of Jesus.”

Words that echo through the streets of today, Christmas lights shining out against a backdrop of financial struggles, strikes, freezing temperatures and an ever greater need for hope and re-birth.

Tickets are on sale at £10, students and under 18s £6, on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.

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Heaven guides new York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust interpretation of A Nativity for York at Spurriergate Centre

Heaven’s above: Alan Heaven directing a rehearsal of A Nativity for York. All pictures: John Saunders

A NATIVITY for York returns to the Spurriergate Centre, Spurriergate, York, on Thursday after a two-year enforced break, under the direction of the divinely named Alan Heaven.

Mounted by York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust (YMPST), the production will run for eight performances, preceded by an open dress rehearsal at 7.30pm on Wednesday.

After directing the Last Judgement plays in the York Mystery Plays Wagon cycles on the city streets in 2018 and 2022, Heaven has created a new interpretation of the Nativity, combining “music, dance, sorrows and joys and some audience participation”.

It may be unlucky to open an umbrella indoors, as the saying insists, but York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust cast members, led by Mark Comer, take their chances in the rehearsal room. All pictures: John Saunders

Billed as a fresh, vibrant and magical retelling of the Nativity, based on the York Cycle of Mystery Plays, A Nativity for York features actors, dancers and musicians drawn from a wide range of community volunteers, in keeping with the YMPST productions of A Nativity for York in 2019 and A Resurrection for York in 2021.

Work began on the production in October, and although Covid among nine of the 16-strong cast has disrupted rehearsals in recent weeks, preparations are almost complete for the hour-long performances on Thursday and Friday at 7.30pm, then Saturday and Sunday at 3pm, 5pm and 7.30pm.

“The story is quite familiar but, in order to keep the play dynamic, we have focused on the cast putting every ounce of their energy into their parts, so that they engage with the audience,” says Alan.

“Keeping the play dynamic”: Anastasia Crook’s Mary rehearses a scene that testifies to the movement skills of director Alan Heaven

“Hopefully, as they work together – and most have multiple roles – through all 12 scenes, the result will be a positive and community-minded experience.” 

Heaven, an experienced director specialising in Early Modern theatre practice, community theatre, street theatre, movement and puppetry, is also a playwright, actor, musician, artist, illustrator and film maker.

He first worked with the York Mystery Plays in 2008 and has done so regularly since then, as well as adapting and staging the entire York Mystery Plays corpus for families. 

A restful moment for Michael Maybridge’s Joseph during rehearsals

Delighted to be working with the YMPST on this week’s new Nativity, he says: “It’s a real honour to be entrusted with these texts, which are such a vital part of York`s heritage. I hope to deliver a production that develops the rich and vibrant contrasts of the originals.

“There’ll be comedy and celebrations along with music, dance and song, next to the savagery of Herod and the struggle to escape his reach. This is a wonderful and exciting journey that will involve the audience and thrill and delight everyone involved.”

Tickets are on sale at £10, students and under 18s £6, on 01904 623568, at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk or in person from the Theatre Royal box office.