The Welwyn Mysteries, staged for the very first time in 2010, was a huge success. Six performances were held at Welwyn St Mary's School, Welwyn, during Welwyn Festival week in June 2010 and on more than one occasion tickets were sold out.
Each performance used extracts from The Wakefield Mysteries, in a modern adaptation by Adrian Henri, and featured six plays: Creation, The Deluge, The Nativity, The Last Supper, Betrayal and Crucifixion, and Resurrection and Ascension. The plays were presented in promenade style, a method of acting that brought the cast and the action right into the centre of the audience. The whole presentation was replete with comedy, music and drama.
This was a truly community project, involving young and old, parishioners, villagers and students, drama groups and those interested in amateur dramatics. Many people helped with design and publicity, sets, props, costumes, ticketing and organisation.
Throughout Welwyn Festival week, there was a feast of activities taking place in Welwyn village. The Mysteries cast also performed a sequence from The Deluge at Singlers Marsh on Saturday 26th June, following the Fancy Dress Parade, the theme of which was 'Noah's Ark'.
More than 60 students from the Graphic Design and Illustration Department of Hertfordshire University designed the Souvenir Programme and other publicity-related material for the plays as part of their curriculum. The winning design by Lova Andrianaivoravelona and Racquel Caparros was chosen from a shortlist of four.
Diana Holt, one of the many people who saw the production, writes:
Staged as part of Welwyn Festival Week, and based on the Wakefield Mysteries, which were first performed in the Middle Ages, this modern adaptation portrayed the Creation, Noah and the Flood, Christ's birth, The Last Supper, the Crucifixion and the Resurrection. As the programme explained, the original Mystery Plays were aimed at the 'man in the street', and the humour and lightness of touch of this production were the perfect vehicle to communicate clearly the messages in the various scenes.
It's hard to pick out highlights from an outstanding evening. The promise of paradise in the Garden of Eden was simply and beautifully visualised, until Lucifer (played with skill and gusto by Chris White) ruined the idyll with the apple of temptation.
Humour was used to great effect as Noah (Peter McIntyre) struggled to build an ark to God's exacting specifications. There were some lovely performances by the children (the animals), as Noah desperately tried to get them safely on board.
Audience engagement with the action was greatly enhanced by staging the play almost in the round, and the Nativity scene was an emotional highlight. The simple shepherds and regal Kings journeyed to the stable, where Mary (Amy Reynolds) and Joseph (Chris Simson) formed a traditional tableau, while a beautifully lit host of angels looked on.
How to show the Crucifixion? The Director (Keith Thompson) demonstrated a deft touch which avoided too much sensation and sentiment, while clearly showing the horror and anguish of Christ and of the onlookers. In a fine performance, Jackie Potter as the older Mary drew all our emotions together as she cried out, "How much grief can a woman bear?"
Everyone present - performers and audience alike - had been moved, amused and delighted by this imaginative theatrical tour-de-force.
As Hugh Croydon's wonderful voice rang out as God in the Ascension scene, and Jesus (Tim Simson) gave the final stirring message of hope, we knew it was more than just a performance - it was a moving and powerful insight into the greatest of all Mysteries.
For photos of this unique event please click on the Gallery link on the right.
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