York Mystery Plays: Search for new director for Nativity

York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust (YMPST) is seeking to appoint a director for its 2024 production ‘A Nativity for York’ - an hour-long performance, taken from the York Mystery Play cycle of plays, focused on the events surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ.

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The trust has also made the decision to take its show out of the city centre, instead touring three local venues, in order to give new audiences the chance to see the performance in a new setting that may be a little closer to home.

Members of York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust perform The Entry into Jerusalem at St Williams College as York Mystery Plays gets under way. Picture: Nigel Holland

Trust chair Linda Terry said: “This production will be very different from our previous shows which were staged at the Spurriergate Centre.

“We will be visiting three York venues in Acomb, Fulford, and Nether Poppleton from late November to early December.”

York Mystery Plays in Shambles Market. Photo by Catherine Jane of Press Camera Club

YMPST is a historic group that cycles through 48 individual plays and pageants covering biblical events, from the original Creation tale through to The Last Judgement.

The first recorded performance took place in 1376, with local trade groups historically taking responsibility for each play.

The group was revived in 1951 for the Festival of Britain (with a crowd of 26,000, including then Prime Minister Clement Attlee) and is the most well-preserved cycle of mystery plays in the nation.

Professional and amateur actors alike have flocked to the group since its resurrection with a young Judi Dench even taking part at one time.

In recent years, these productions have taken place in multiple locations across the city, including York Minister and the shadow of St Mary’s Abbey.

1954 - York Mystery Plays where Judi Dench is on the far right playing the Angel (Image: Newsquest)

According to the trust’s website: “Whilst traditionally, the Mystery Plays have been presented by the guilds of York, no single individual or organisation can truly claim outright ownership of the Mystery Plays.

"It is only the people of York as a whole who can call them their own– and they are something that they are correctly proud of.”

The committee has approved a fee for any budding directors of £1,000 on the understanding that they would be able to develop a script and rehearse on evenings and weekends for at least eight weeks prior to the performance.

Noah, played by Roger Farrington, surrounded by some of the animals, in the York Mystery Plays

Interested parties are invited to email Linda Terry, Chair of YMPST, at linda.terry@ympst.co.uk for an Information Pack which will provide more information about this opportunity.

Any queries may also be directed to Linda with the closing date for applications being at midnight on Friday April 12.