Chester Mystery Plays

About the Plays

2018 Production

Earlier Productions

News Archive

The 2013 Production in Full Swing...

All the amazing hard work finally comes together into a fantastic show - click to see the slideshow!

Almost ready...

Drawings by Dai Owen

The younger cast prepare

Filmed on a cold Sunday at the end of March, this short film (edited at The Bishops’ High School), shares the experiences of three young cast members of the Chester Mystery Plays, as they reflect during the early stages of their rehearsals at St Mary’s Centre.

Jesus meets Lucius!

A snowy March morning at St John the Evangelist Church in Alvanley for Palm Sunday, 2013. Well done to all who braved the weather (particularly Lucius the donkey)

Footage courtesy of Dave Carter

Rehearsals - February 2013

As the plays get closer the production team is very busy on all fronts, and these shots from the recent rehearsals show some of the fun and hard work going on behind the scenes...

A Glimpse of the 2013 Set, inside Chester Cathedral!

Judith Croft's stunning design for Chester Mystery Plays 2013 was unveiled at the public script reading in October. Get a sense of what it will look like for real from these pictures of the set model taken within the magnificent setting of the Cathedral's nave, and hear people's impressions of the set and the script, as recorded at the reading.

Public Launch of Chester Mystery Plays 2013

Over 200 people attended the formal launch of the 2013 Cycle of the Chester Mystery Plays on 8 March 2012 in the Refectory at Chester Cathedral – it was standing room only!

The evening was hosted by Chairman of the Mystery Plays, Jo Sykes. She introduced a range of speakers including the Lord Mayor, Cllr Eleanor Johnson, and the Dean of Chester, The Very Revd Gordon McPhate. The Lord Mayor talked of the importance of the Plays to Chester and its community, while the Dean commented that "performance is the primary means of unraveling the mystery of the plays".

First Workshops for 2013!

In November, the Chester Mystery Plays 2013 Artistic Director, Peter Leslie Wild, and Writer, Stephanie Dale, held workshops for those interested in getting involved with the 2013 Cycle

“We had an amazing time at the workshops”, Peter Wild comments. “So much so we’ve decided to do it all again! We’ll be running one more session before Stephanie starts the writing process in earnest and would love to meet more people – those who have been involved in (or seen) the Mystery Plays before as well as those who have never experienced them.”

...with thanks to Neil Kendall for the great photography
and Dai Owen for the wonderful illustrations

Vox Pops...

Les Ellison moved to the Chester area recently and came along to one of the November workshops.

“I thoroughly enjoyed it and I’m really excited by the 2013 project”, he commented. “Peter and Stephanie are absolutely the right director and writer for the job. They’re excellent with the people they work with – patient, respectful, encouraging, imaginative and inclusive. I think their approach to the plays is spot-on for 21st century Chester. They've really got something the audience will relate to, understand and find instantly accessible.”

Vanda Hargen (a regular performer with the Mystery Plays) also comments:

“The 3 hour workshop just flew by. It was fun as well as stimulating, and it was really excellent to be working with Peter and Stephanie – I’ll definitely be signing up for 2013!”

Artistic Director: Peter Leslie Wild

Peter Leslie Wild is an award-winning freelance theatre director and radio drama producer.

Since winning a BP Young Directors Award in 1989, Peter has worked extensively in theatre, radio and on site-specific projects. He set up and ran the Community Programme for the Orange Tree Theatre in London (1991-95), where he also directed acclaimed productions of The Return of the Prodigal, Someone Waiting, Romeo and Juliet, and a children’s version of The Mysteries. From 1995 to 2011, he was Senior Producer for BBC Radio Drama based in Birmingham, where he has worked with a vast range of writers including Steve Waters, David Edgar, Stephen Poliakoff, Arnold Wesker, Louise Page, Glyn Hughes, Lucy Gough, Stephanie Dale, Naylah Ahmed, Claire Bennett, Lou Ramsden, and Helen Cross.

His radio productions include the Classic Serial versions of Watership Down, As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, The Turn of the Screw, Wuthering Heights and the recent Woman’s Hour version of Wives and Daughters. He co-produced and directed the award-winning drama-documentary strands Making Space, Beyond the Canvas, Out of the Mould and Victorian Marriage Beds. Recent work includes five serials featuring Lindsey Davis’s Roman detective (Radio 4), Falco, two PD James serials, Jenny Stephens’ sci-fi serials Jefferson 37, Project Raphael and Project Archangel (Radio 4 Extra), Amadeus (starring F Murray Abraham) for Radio 2, The Contingency Plan and Great Escape (Radio 3), and two series of the acclaimed Writing the Century, based on real letters and diaries from the 20th Century. He is a twice winner of the prestigious Prix Marulic.

He has also produced and directed many episodes of Radio 4’s long-running serial The Archers, as well as two series of Ambridge Extra for Radio 4 Extra in 2012. He wrote and directed a creative audio tour of the birthplace of the Titanic’s designer as part of the centenary commemorations in Belfast.

He recently directed a Community Audio Play, Sea Me by Stephanie Dale with Doorway Theatre Company in Dorset, which will go online in the Spring of 2013.

In the theatre, Peter has made something of a specialism of working in unexpected venues. The Worcester Pilgrim by Alex Jones was staged in Worcester Cathedral, and he is collaborating with Birmingham Rep to direct Dealing With Dreams by Stephanie Dale in Walsall New Art Gallery. He has recently collaborated with Singworks on Choral History and When the Stamp Made Its Mark, two large scale projects involving 150 primary schoolchildren, a choir and a band, staged in Kidderminster Town Hall. Most recently he directed The Wicked Lady for Birmingham University, and Philip Goulding’s A Fine Bright Day Today for The New Vic Theatre in Newcastle Under Lyme (2012).

Peter is looking forward to working with the people of Chester on the Mystery Cycle, and is honoured to be involved in such a prestigious and exciting project.

Designer: Judith Croft

Judith trained first in Fashion and Textiles, then Theatre Design at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.

She has worked extensively in the North West, becoming Head of Design for the Library Theatre Company in 1991, where she continues to work on a regular basis. She has designed many of their successful productions of plays by Neil Simon, including the Brighton Beach trilogy, The Odd Couple (winner of Best Production, Manchester Evening News) and Laughter on the 23rd Floor, which she also designed for the West End run, starring Gene Wilder.

Judith has designed musicals, including Assassins, Company and Putting it Together with director Roger Haines at the Library, and Leader of the Pack at the New Wolsey, Ipswich and Theatre Clwyd. Opera includes Falstaff at the RNCM (winner of Best Production of an Opera, M.E.N).
Recent work with the Library includes: My Night with Reg, Translations, Waiting for Godot and Someone to Watch Over Me (all winners of Best Production, M.E.N) Dancing at Lughnasa, The Real Thing, Much Ado about Nothing, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, Faith Healer, Frozen, The Glee Club, Glengarry Glen Ross, The Importance of Being Earnest and, at the Quays Theatre in the Lowry, Arcadia, A Doll’s House and Wind in the Willows.

Judith designed the set and costumes for the 2008 cycle of the Chester Mystery Plays. Other site-specific work includes Alice in Wonderland at Heaton Park, Manchester, and Hard Times, presented in 2011 as a promenade production by director Chris Honer, in a disused textile mill in Manchester. She designs for the community based company Theatre in the Quarter in Chester. Productions include Home for Christmas, James, and in Spring 2012, Unsinkable.

Judith has designed the Rock and Roll Panto at Clwyd Theatr Cymru for the last 12 years, working with director Pete Rowe. She is a regular exhibitor with the Society of British Theatre Designers and currently is Chair of the Equity National Designers Committee.

Movement Director: Katherine Robinson

Born in Cheshire, Katherine trained at The Hammond Lower School and Senior Department, gaining her Diploma in dance teaching and performance, Royal Academy of Dancing (RAD) and Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance (ISTD) teaching qualifications. During her final year as a student at The Hammond she was involved in establishing The Taudevin Dance Company and was invited to take company class and rehearsals with the Richard Alston Dance Company as an apprentice. Katherine then continued her training in contemporary dance and choreography at Middlesex University where she gained a First Class BA (Hons) degree in dance and worked with many choreographers such as Marc Bruce, Kate Flatt, Tim Langford, Cathy Marston and Emma Diamond. Katherine also won the Julia Cross award for choreographic innovation in 2003.

She has worked as a dance teacher at The Elliot Clarke School of Dance and Drama and as a freelance community dance practitioner in Cheshire and Merseyside. Following completion of a Post Graduate Certificate of Education in dance at Liverpool John Moores University, she taught at Ellesmere Port Specialist School for Performing Arts. Katherine has also worked as North West dance animateur for the Rambert Dance Company teaching company repertoire to primary and secondary school children as part of the Company’s education and outreach programme. Katherine was very pleased to join the Vocational faculty at The Hammond in 2006. She teaches choreographic studies to the professional dance students as well as Integrated Professional Studies. In 2007 she also completed her Certificate in Dance Education with the ISTD and in 2008 her Professional Formation with the Institute for Learning. Katherine has choreographed for Chester Literary Festival and for Shell UK as part of their ‘V-Power’ marketing strategy.

She has also previously choreographed for Chester Mystery Plays in Miniature as part of ‘Chestival’ and for ‘Theatre in the Quarter’s’ production Unsinkable commemorating the sinking of the Titanic. She is thrilled to be working as a movement consultant for Chester Mystery Plays 2013 alongside Director Peter Wild, a fantastic creative team and a wonderful cast.