York Mystery Plays' waggons set to roll again

MOMENTUM is building for the 2014 York Mystery Plays with the Easter week launch of tickets for this summer's pageant waggon performances.

After nearly four years of planning by York Festival Trust and the seven Guilds of York for their fifth quadrennial production since 1998, the plays will roll out on to the city streets on successive Sundays, July 13 and 20, under the artistic direction of Deborah Pakkar-Hull. Around 600 community participants will be involved, including actors, set builders, wagon-pushing teams and musicians.

"What interests me in telling these stories is the human story within them – the story of Jesus the man – because I'm interested in telling them to both secular and faithful audiences, as the themes are so resonant and epic and human at the same time," says Deborah.

"But I'm dipping into the celestial too, so this summer's Plays will be book-ended by the Creation and The Last Judgement with the Harrowing of Hell preceding it to make sense of the human deeds that go between the beginning and end.

"I also had fixed points for some of my choices as certain guilds are attached to particular plays, such as the York Guild of Building to Creation; the Company of Butchers to The Crucifixion and The Death Of Christ; and the Company of Merchant Adventurers to The Last Judgement."

Deborah read all 48 plays in the York Cycle of Mystery Plays before settling upon the 12 stories to be performed on pageant waggons that will move between stations throughout the city with medieval musical processions in between.

"It took days and days and days to finish them all," she says. "I intended to put aside three or four, but it took much longer as you have to tune into the rhythm and texture of the language to allow the meaning to emerge and to give full justice to the plays.

"I felt I had to read them all to look at the dramatic possibilities in them as I'm a theatre-maker first and foremost, and some have no action taking place but a lot of talking, though they have significance within their texts, but my primary concern was to make a dramatic piece with a coherent and complete narrative through line."

In a nutshell, Deborah's production will tell an overarching story of the struggle between good and evil, beginning and ending in the heavenly domain but largely played out on the earthly plane, with Jesus either present in, or the focus of, a series of very human dilemmas, conflicts, difficulties and enterprises.

Consequently, the plays on July 13 and 20 will be Creation Of The World To the Fifth Day, presented by the York Guild of Building; The Fall Of Man, Gild of Freemen with Canon Lee School; The Angels And The Shepherds, Guild of Scriveners; The Slaughter Of The Innocents, Heslington Church; The Baptism, HidDen Theatre; The Woman Taken In Adultery and The Raising Of Lazarus, University of York St John; The Entry Into Jerusalem, York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust; and Christ Before Annas And Caiaphas, The Company of Cordwainers with the York Settlement Community Players.

After an interval, each Sunday's plays will continue with The Crucifixion and The Death Of Christ , staged by The Company of Butchers with St Chad’s Church; The Harrowing Of Hell, St Luke's Church; The Resurrection, The Company of Merchant Taylors, and The Last Judgement, The Company of Merchant Adventurers with Pocklington School.

The playing stations on July 13 will be Dean’s Park by York Minster, College Green, King's Square and King's Manor; on July 20, Dean’s Park, College Green, St Sampsons Square and Museum Gardens. Some have ticketed seating; all have free viewing too. Tickets are available from yorkmysteryplays.co.uk

Deborah Pakkar-Hull profile

Role: Artistic director of 2014 York Mystery Plays, July 13 and 20.

Grew up in Balderby St James, near Thirsk. She has a BA (Honours) in Drama and English from the University of Surrey and an MA in Drama and Theatre Education from the University of Warwick and 20 years' experience of working in participatory drama and theatre.

She started out as a community arts worker, working on projects at Notting Hill Carnival in 1992 to 1994, followed by a stint as a drama teacher and youth theatre leader before moving into the applied performance field. She spent 11 years with The Play House, Birmingham company for young audiences, including five as artistic director from 2006 to 2011.

Now freelance, after moving to Leeds in 201, Deborah combines work as a visiting director for companies such as Blah Blah Blah with being solo practitioner and university lecturer.

Deborah has directed, devised and performed work in school, youth, community and theatre settings; collaborated with artists, writers and companies; and created site-specific work in assorted locations.