The York Mystery Plays Supporters’ Trust will be holding a fundraising event tomorrow evening, 31st December, All Hallow’s Eve. Join us at Bedern Hall in York this Thursday evening from 7pm, for ‘evening of fun and all things Mystery!’. Dr Diana Wyatt and Dr Mark Chambers from Durham University will be representing Records of Early […]
Some of the earliest records of performance in the West Riding provide evidence of the dragon of Ripon Minster. In the accounts of 1439-40, the Chamberlains of this Benedictine monastery note the stipend paid to the man ‘who carried the dragon in processions on the feast of the Ascension and the three Rogation days leading […]
The Records of Early English Drama North East team have a long association with the York Mystery Plays – not least when they visited us in Durham to perform The Crucifixion as part of our Theatrum Mundi celebrations. But now the York Festival Trust need your help to maintain their long tradition of putting on […]
King Henry VIII visited Yorkshire only once in the course of his long reign, in the summer and autumn of 1541, and seems to have been prompted to travel so far only by the perceived need to calm (and possibly threaten) the rebellious North in the wake of the Pilgrimage of Grace and other risings […]
A Flower of the Well for the Flower of the Month – conflicts over old customs in Aldborough Cause papers in the Diocesan Registry of York (Borthwick Institute, York, H.C.C.P. N.D./11 [1594-5]) provide two records of conflict over the performance of folk customs in Aldborough: 1. In July 1594, Robert Rodes (alias Scotson) heard that […]
Here are some more scenes from the 2014 York Mystery Plays, taken from the second Sunday of performance (20th July). They show: 1. The Baptism of Christ, St. Sampson’s Square (NOT an advert for Pizza Express!), brought forth by HIDDen Theatre Company (John the Baptist: Mark Burghagen; Jesus: Ehren Mierau; God: Charles Hunt; Angel 1: […]
Here are some photos of last Sunday’s York Mystery Plays (13 July 2014). They include: 1. The procession of The Shepherds’ Play, by the The Guild of Scriveners, showing the pageant wagon and a team of angels (processing up Minister Yard towards Deangate) 2. Christ before Annas and Caiaphas, by The Company of Cordwainers in […]