YORK will miss out next year on the jewel in its artistic and spiritual calendar - the Mystery Plays.

The world-famous plays, which give a massive boost to the city's crucial tourism industry as well as scores of local amateur actors, have traditionally been held every four years.

But they may not now be staged again until at least 2010 - a decade after the sell-out Millennium production in the Minster, which was watched by 28,000 people.

The York Minster Mystery Plays Board believes it is more realistic from both a financial and practical point of view for a major production to be staged every ten years rather than four.

But the lack of a 2004 production has disappointed tourism leaders - and also the actor who played Jesus Christ in the 1996 production, Rory Mulvihill, of Naburn.

He said: "Ten years is too long between productions. The plays have been performed every three or four years since 1951, and there has always been great demand to see them.

"The history is there, the demand is there from actors and audience alike and finance has never been a problem - certainly since they moved indoors."

He called on City of York Council to take a lead in reviving the Plays for 2005, if it was now too late for 2004.

Kay Hyde, of York Tourism Bureau, said the Mystery Plays were an extremely important part of York's heritage.

"They inspire people from across the UK and worldwide to visit York and to see this magnificent example of York's medieval drama.

"It would be super if we could keep the tradition going of holding this every four years."

A decision on whether the Minster hosts another event in 2010 will not be made until a new Dean has been appointed.

Delma Tomlin, who was administrator and chief executive for a number of previous Mystery Plays, said today she would be delighted if another one could be staged between now and 2010. But the key problems would be: who would finance it and who would administer it?

Minster Mystery Plays board secretary David Rayner said money from the Millennium production had been invested in the hope it could be used as "seed corn" to help fund a future production there.

The board recognised the event was very disruptive to the Minster and substantial commercial sponsorship was needed. It believed it was therefore more realistic to mount a major production every decade.

It hoped the plays would be performed again on pageant wagons on York's streets within the next three years.

City of York Council's assistant director of education and leisure, Charlie Croft, said he understood the decision to opt for once every ten years, saying it was not reasonable to expect businesses to come up with sponsorship at too short intervals.

What do you think? Should the tradition of staging Mystery Plays every few years be saved - or should York opt for a big production in the Minster every decade? Email your views to mike.laycock@ycp.co.uk

Updated: 10:48 Friday, June 13, 2003