Lincoln mystery plays

Lincoln Mystery Plays (N Town)

The Lincoln Mystery Plays exists to bring people together to perform medieval mystery plays and other productions in Lincoln Cathedral and the surrounding area.

The Lincoln Mystery Plays are based on the N-Town Plays and were inspired by Keith Ramsay who directed the productions every four years between 1978 and 2000. Throughout these years, Keith worked tirelessly as translator, Artistic Director and performer. He developed a very fine performance tradition and an important part of Lincoln life. The cycle continues to this day with the next round of performances due in 2008.

For many, the plays are essentially a religious experience, but we emphatically see them as drama too, with all the power of tragedy and comedy that is theatre at its best. For this reason, our style is very much one of ensemble playing with the audience, concentrating on the dramatic and emotional strength of the plays. A particular joy for us and for our audiences is that we are able to perform the plays in the magnificent settings of Lincoln Cathedral and Southwell Minster. Apart from the Mystery Plays themselves, we aim to give other performances from time to time. For example, in 2003, our production of Mister Wesley, a new play by Roy Clarke of Last of the Summer Wine fame, was enthusiastically received by sell-out audiences in Lincoln and Southwell.

The Mystery Plays tell the story of manking as seen through the eyes of a person from the Middle Ages. Usually the plays pass through the twin high peaks of the Birth and of the Crucifixion/resurrection sections of the story. The plays were written in middle English, thereby explaining this story to the ordinary people of that time. These great guild productions flourished over 200 years in cities throughout the land. It was Cromwell and the Reformation that put an end to this great tradition.

These plays lay almost forgotten for hundreds of years. The first major revival was in 1951 in York, a historic production by E Martin Brown.

Keith Ramsay revived the Lincoln or N Town plays in Lincoln in 1978. He directed nine productions in Lincoln Cathedral and two in Southwell Minster. Keith was invited to present the production at several international conferences on medieval drama. The company performed in Neustadt, Germany; Viterbo, Rome & Camerino Italy;Perpignan, France and Oregon, USA (this was allegedly the first time Mystery Plays had been performed in the States(1989))

"Further reading"
The Lincoln Mystery Plays; A personal odessey. Author- K. Ramsay
Also a modernised version of the text was produced in 1994 by Prof Ed Schell & Keith Ramsay.

"websites":
* [http://www.lincolnmysteryplays.co.uk The Official Lincoln Mystery Plays Website]
* [http://www.lincolnmystery.co.uk The Lincoln Mystery Plays; A Personal Odessey]