Will greatest story be told?

WANTED: people with drive, commitment, enthusiasm, expertise, experience, ability and - above all - time, to ensure York's Mystery Plays are kept alive. Salary: none. (Applicants should be warned that this job may prove stressful if, ultimately, rewarding).

Interested?

It may not be the dream job you have always sought but it seems today that hopes of saving York's world-famous Mysteries rest on enough volunteers willing and able to take on such work.

Ever since the Evening Press revealed last month that the Plays would not be staged again in 2004, as would normally have happened under the traditional four-year cycle, and may not be performed again until at least 2010 - and quite possibly not even then - readers have been contacting the paper to say how upset, dismayed and angered they are, and to ask us to campaign to save the Plays.

In response, the paper has been investigating whether this can be achieved.

We have been to Chester, the north's other great historic city, and seen how it is successfully maintaining its Mysteries tradition on a five-year cycle, with the Plays performed this month on the lawn in front of the cathedral. We have also reported how Coventry too is managing to stage its own Plays in the ruins of the city's old cathedral next month.

We have also spoken informally to several of York's larger companies to discuss whether financial support might be forthcoming for any future production. The response has been generally positive, but - understandably - without anyone at this stage wanting to formally commit themselves.

Publisher Liz Page has also hosted two private meetings at the Press offices to discuss with leading organisations in the city whether the Plays tradition should be maintained, and if so, how. A further meeting is planned for early next month.

Those taking part have included officers and a councillor from City of York Council, and representatives from a range of other organisations including York Theatre Royal, the York Minster Mystery Plays Board, the Friends of the Mystery Plays, York Tourism Bureau and the York Guilds, who perform the pageant waggon plays on the streets of York.

One of those attending the second meeting was David Howard, whose company produced the last performance to be staged in the Plays' traditional home, the Museum Gardens, in 1988.

He had calculated how much it might cost to stage them there again in 2005, and also how much income might be raised.

Costs included: designing and building a set, lighting, sound, costumes, rigging, site lighting, power installation, distribution and back-up generator, gardens reinstatement, seating, fencing and security, directorial team, principal actor, designers, crew, production manager, wardrobe staff, box office staff and box office rent, rehearsal space and offices, and insurance and liabilities. Total estimated costs: £544,000.

He calculated that income from box office receipts from 24 performances, with a seating capacity of 1,100, and from programme sales and advertising, merchandising, additional Sunday concerts and sponsorship, could be in the region of £583,000 to £693,500.

Following the meetings, it has now become clear that:

- The city council is prepared to provide advice and help if an organisation is set up to save the Plays, and officers are preparing report back to councillors in the early autumn on the economic and leisure implications for the city. But the authority is not prepared to lead any campaign to save the Plays.

- The York Minster Mystery Plays Board, which oversaw the magnificent Millennium production in the cathedral and may possibly stage another such production there in about 2010, cannot become involved in any other production elsewhere in the meantime. And none of the profits from 2000 will be available for any other production until it is known whether another attempt will be made to stage one in the Minster. But no decision can be made on that matter until some time after a new Dean has been appointed for York.

- The Theatre Royal, which staged the Plays in 1992 and 1996, does not wish to play a leading role this time round. Director Ludo Keston has said it has no aspirations to stage the Plays again, but would be happy to provide support, as it had done in 2000 with the Minster production. It was also prepared to host a public meeting, should one be organised with the aim of saving the plays.

So the bottom line is that, if the people of York want to keep the Plays alive in 2005, and for years to come, they will have to commit themselves to a great venture to make it happen.

A maximum of perhaps 11 people with the right levels of expertise, experience, organisational abilities, commitment and time are needed to come together to form, from scratch, an acting Mystery Plays board. People with a good working knowledge of how to form a limited charitable company and a knowledge of public sector, charitable and lottery funding would be a good start.

The board would probably need to include a chairman, finance director, legal and marketing experts, council representative and people with a Mysteries Plays background.

Others wishing to help can join a register of supporters. Businesses willing to become major corporate sponsors are also needed, with a chance to join the board which could, at least, explore in more depth the feasibility of staging the Plays again. It may be able to apply for Heritage Lottery Funding to conduct a professional feasibility study.

The leading organiser of the Chester Mystery Plays has already pledged to give her advice and assistance if York moves to save its Plays.

Publisher Liz Page says: "The Evening Press is not in a position to organise the next Mystery Plays, but we would be delighted to continue to provide a channel of communication to help the community ensure this great tradition is not lost."

So, can the people of York manage it?

Do you care? But more importantly, do you care enough? This is decision time.

If you are interested in joining with others to form a Mystery Plays board, or in becoming a corporate sponsor, please send an email to Mike Laycock at: mike.laycock@ycp.co.uk or ring him on 01904 567132.

Updated: 13:52 Thursday, July 24, 2003