Summer of Shakespeare
‘Summer’s lease hath all too short a date’
So, catch York Shakespeare Project’s ‘summer-extravaganza’ while you can.
The history of churches and the history of theatre in England are very much intertwined. As a matter of fact, English theatre originated with religious performances as early as the 10th Century, which eventually led to large scale community performances such as mystery and miracle plays in the 14th Century, which aimed to bring stories from the Latin bible to life in a dramatic and captivating way for the majority of the population, who couldn’t read the scripture.
The Pinnacle of English religious theatre are the ‘Mystery Cycles’ which developed out of short tableaux performances, which were used to illustrate the bible stories told during services probably as early as the 5th Century and became increasingly elaborate over time until they found their final form in large-scale festival style performances that could last several days and were often produced and performed by guilds. The Mystery Cycle typically begins with or before the creation of the world and ends with the Last Judgement, but there are also smaller cycles focussing on specific parts of the bible which are often linked to important Christian holidays, such as Easter or Christmas. Guilds would often sponsor and perform parts of the cycle specific to their trade, for example bakers might perform the miracle of the loaves and fishes and goldsmiths might focus on the visit of the magi with their offerings of expensive gifts.
In several cities and towns in England local traditions of Mystery Cycles persist to this day, most prolifically York, Chester and Wakefield. The York Mystery Cycle originally consisted of likely 40 to 60 plays, which were performed to celebrate the festival of Corpus Christi, which was later abolished in England and used to take place in May or June, they were organised by the York Craft Guilds and were performed on pageant wagons, effectively floats. Their revival, after being outlawed in 1569, began in 1885 with the curiosity of Lucy Toulmin Smith, an antiquarian and librarian, who asked to read the manuscript of the Mystery Cycles, which was in the possession of the Earl of Ashburnham. Her request was granted and she later published her findings, which led to the first performance of the Nativity from the York cycle since 1569, in 1909. In the year 2000 a large-scale performance of the largest portion of the cycle since 1909 was staged in York Minster as ‘The York Millenium Mystery Plays’, directed by Gregory Doran. Apart from Ray Stevenson in the role of Christ the cast was made up of amateurs, 50 children also participated and original music was composed for the performance. Amateur dramatics has some old-fashioned connotations attached to it and is often employed in a supercilious manner by ‘professional’ theatre people. But with theatre in England being historically firmly rooted in amateur dramatics, and one could argue, unable to rejuvenate itself without the ever inventive contributions of passionate amateurs – unrestrained by commercial pressures – amateur dramatics are not something to be sniffed at and for the remainder of this article we shall use the term amateur in the sense of someone taking part in an unpaid activity out of a strong passion.
York in particular is a place where community theatre and amateur dramatics thrive. Even the York Theatre Royal regularly puts on a community performance. According to someone who should know, Tony Froud, Chair of the York Shakespeare Project, York is an extraordinary seedbed for community theatre, an artistically and culturally vibrant place. With lots of different theatre companies across the city everything is possible, and you can go out most weeks and “find a bit of theatre happening in York somewhere”.
York Shakespeare Project (YSP), now in its 24th year, can trace its origins back to that momentous, month-long performance of the ‘York Millenium Mystery Cycles’ in 2000. After the show had finished, many of the actors were experiencing post-show blues and it was one of them, Frank Brogan, who came up with the idea to perform all of Shakespeare’s plays broadly in the order in which they were written over the next 20 years. The idea brought people together, some funds were raised, and in November of 2002 they put on their first play, Richard III, at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre. In October 2022, 20 years later and one month ahead of schedule, they accomplished what they had set out to do with a final performance of Shakespeare’s last play ‘The Tempest’. Effie Warboys, who played Miranda in 2022, was only 3 months old at the time of the first performance of YSP in 2002.
But what is next for York Shakespeare Project? Where do you go from such a monumental achievement?
Everyone involved with YSP, much like Tony, who taught Shakespeare for most of his teaching career and joined YSP in 2017 after he retired, is driven by the enduring appeal of Shakespeare and the wish to share it with others. Shakespeare seems to have an ability to speak to all ages, to be universal, every generation finds something new in his plays, it’s something Tony and the others want to keep alive, because it is a wonderful theatrical experience. And so, a decision was reached to start again, this time with a bigger and bolder project. Over 25 years, York Shakespeare Project are going to perform all of Shakespeare’s plays again alongside lesser-known works by some of his contemporary playwrights, with the aim to showcase all the “greatest hits” of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. Last year, they started this new ‘Elizabethan Cycle’ with a successful production of Marlowe’s Edward II.
York Shakespeare Project doesn’t only allow people to connect to England’s theatrical heritage and York’s history, but it also continues, like many community theatre ventures, to bring people together. For each performance new people come together over a shared passion, new actors are auditioned and in the case of this year’s extravaganza ‘The Summer Sonnets’ at Holy Trinity Goodramgate York, six of the actors have not done a sonnet show before, one of them has never done any acting before, and many are new to YSP. Tony describes the sonnet shows as an ideal introduction to Shakespeare for the audience, as well as the actors, as each part includes only 14 lines of Shakespearean verse.
This year’s performance at Holy Trinity is an interesting journey through the English Language, interweaving contemporary larger-than-life characters, with scenes from the story of Anne Lister and Ann Walker, which will marry the performance nicely to its historic setting and will be performed in Georgian English as much of the text is drawn from Lister’s diaries and then there are of course Shakespeare’s Sonnets, which will transport the audience yet further back in time.
The idea of the Sonnets started ten years ago in 2014, when the tour de France came to Yorkshire and various events were hosted in York in celebration. York Shakespeare Project decided to contribute to the festivities by creating Sonnet Walks in which you would encounter characters as you walked through the streets and alleyways of the city. For six years afterwards these walks remained a summer staple in York’s busy events calendar. However, the outbreak of Covid in 2020 put a sudden stop to walks in large groups. But the appetite for live performance by people who had been starved month upon month of their usual rich diet of theatre in York remained strong, so Holy Trinity as a safe space in the heart of York in a charming historic setting became an appealing venue. Thus, the sonnet walks, became the sit-down sonnets, as this made it easier to keep people two metres apart. The performance had to be slightly altered, because characters couldn’t get too close to each other, but nonetheless because it was live drama in a very desperate time the performances were well attended. With the advantages in having a single setting, the previously linear performances evolved, a narrative arc was introduced, and the plot thickened. There is also a great opportunity to tailor this performance to the historic setting in which it is staged. This year, writer Josie Campbell, was able to be inspired by the place and the history of Holy Trinity and has incorporated the blessing of Anne Lister and Ann Walker into the play.
The tradition of churches being hubs of art and culture and cradles of innovation in the arts is a tradition we like to honour at CCT and we have 357 historic churches all over the country waiting to be turned into one-of-a-kind time machines by innovative performers and many rural audiences waiting to be whisked away on enchanting adventures. There is a place for theatre in historic churches – if you are a touring company reviving classics, a recent graduate looking for a first performance space, a curious mind seeking to rediscover forgotten stories get in touch at [email protected].
Get tickets to the sonnets here: https://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/show/summer-sonnets/
Photograph by Graham White: YHT | English Parish Churches