WHAT'S all this about York Minster Mystery Plays Board? The plays never belonged to the Minster. They belonged to the city.
The Millennium performances in the Minster were a splendid spectacle but, unless you were sitting in the first few rows, the words were inaudible. The words are what the plays are all about.
I was fortunate enough to see a performance in the 1950s in Museum Gardens and have also seen the plays performed on pageant waggons and in the Theatre Royal.
They are best performed in the open air as they were originally. I found performance of The Judgement in Dean's Park was infinitely more moving than the same play performed in the theatre. C M Milton,
Old Orchard,
Haxby, York.
...THE Mystery Plays must continue every four or five years because they are part of York.
They ran for many years without the help of the church. The Minster setting was spectacular. A setting York can no longer afford, it seems. Go back to where they began, St Mary's Abbey. There they have a ready-made stage setting.
There are seven nights in the week, if it rains hold it the following night. As for Aubergane, the stage is covered, the auditorium not so. As for the Minster, leave them to sort out their own financial affairs. Yes cuts are needed, but not with the maintenance staff, so allowing the building to fall into disrepair.
How many deans, deacons, canons, precentors etc are needed to run one building?
A M Kett,
Orchard Road,
Updated: 10:29 Tuesday, June 24, 2003
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