Following the news that York's Mystery Plays may not be staged again until 2010 at the earliest, MIKE LAYCOCK takes a look at some of the productions staged over the past 50 years

THE Virgin Mary looks down tenderly at the infant Jesus, against a backdrop of the ruins of St Mary's Abbey in the Museum Gardens, York.

But do you recognise who plays Mary in the 1957 production of York's Mystery Plays, above?

She went on to star on stage and screen, playing everything from Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown to M in the James Bond films.

It is, of course, York's very own Dame Judi Dench, at the start of a glittering acting career. It was not her first appearance in the plays, having been involved as a child in the first production in 1951.

Other scenes from the gardens indicate just how many ordinary York amateur actors have been involved in the plays over the years, with, for example, a large crowd witnessing the scene where Jesus calls Lazarus back from the dead.

But of course, the plays have also been performed over the years on pageant wagons on the streets of the city, as happened in medieval times. One such scene is captured near York Minster, in Duncombe Place.

The plays were revived in 1951 as part of the wider York Festival, which was staged as part of the Festival of Britain.

Scenes from the festival, which continued until the late 1980s, are also captured by our photographers here. PERSONAL ATTENTION: The crowds look on as Jesus heals a lame man in the 1960 Mystery Plays MIRACLE: A group of citizens look on with amazement in this scene from the 1954 Mystery Plays in which Jesus calls Lazarus from the dead A mother and her daughter make their part in the "street cries" a family affair in 1954

Updated: 12:02 Friday, June 20, 2003