TICKETS have gone on sale for a special Nativity play set to be performed in York next month.

York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust is to produce a Nativity for York in December, taken from the York Cycle of Mystery Plays with preparations well underway and way tickets now on sale.

The Director of the new ‘Nativity for York’ production reports successful on-going rehearsals as tickets go on sale to the public.

Nativity Director Terry Ram said: “We had a good response to our initial audition request and are now busy rehearsing for what I hope will be a memorable performance.

“We’ve called it ‘Out of the Darkness’.

“Our cast of community actors and musicians will deliver a message of hope through a medieval text that mirrors our own difficult times.”

Show tickets priced at a flat rate of £10 are now on sale on the York Mystery Players Supporters Trust website: ympst.co.uk

Audience sizes this year have had to be strictly limited to allow all current Covid protocols to be put in place.

Linda Terry, chairman of York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust, said: “The Trust aims to keep the story of the York Mystery Plays alive.

“This is our second production this year after a sell-out performance of ‘A Resurrection for York’ in July in collaboration with York Festival Trust and York Minster.

“We are delighted to be giving the community chance to perform and see the Nativity this year in an uplifting hour of drama.’

The play will be staged at St Michaels, Spurriergate, York.

Performances are scheduled for 7pm on Friday, December 17 and at 2pm; 4pm and 6.30 pm on Saturday, December 18.

This year the Summer outdoor plays were staged on two wagons in Dean’s Park on July 3 and 4.

In general the plays are described as telling the story of the world from the beginning of all things to the end of all things, and are usually performed by a huge cast involving the local community.

Previous Mystery Plays have been held at various venues including York Minster and ran for up to a month.

In 2012, the plays were given a new lease of life with Ferdinand Kingsley, son of Sir Ben, playing both God and Jesus, opposite Graeme Hawley, better known as serial killer John Stape in Coronation Street.