2012 Production
For 2012, coinciding with the 800th anniversary of York's City Charter and the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, the Mystery plays returned to the Museum Gardens in York, their traditional home until 1988. The script was adapted by Mike Kenny and the direction was by Damian Cruden of York Theatre Royal and Paul Burbridge of Riding Lights Theatre Company. The York Mystery Plays 2012 involved over 1,000 local volunteers working alongside theatre professionals in all areas of the production, including some 500 amateur actors organised into two casts who shared the 30-performance run between them. The combined role of Jesus and God the Father was played by Ferdinand Kingsley, and Satan by Graeme Hawley, known for his role as villain John Stape in British soap opera Coronation Street.
Reviews for the production were generally positive, with praise for the spectacle and stage design as well as the efforts of the volunteers.
On 22 February 2012, Arts Council England announced that Pilot Theatre had been successful in their application to The Space, an experimental digital arts media service and commissioning programme run in partnership with the BBC. This led to the York Mystery Plays 2012 being streamed live across the internet, offering people worldwide an innovative interactive experience utilising multiple cameras and live two-way chat.
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“In the production of the necessaries of life Nature is ready enough to assist man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)