The Lincoln Mystery Plays are modern performances of medieval

mystery plays Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...

and other productions in

Lincoln Cathedral Lincoln Cathedral, Lincoln Minster, or the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lincoln and sometimes St Mary's Cathedral, in Lincoln, England, is a Grade I listed cathedral and is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Lincoln. Constructio ...

and the surrounding area.

Background

The Lincoln Mystery Plays are based on the

N-Town Plays The N-Town Plays (also called the Hegge Cycle and the Ludus Coventriae cycle) are a cycle of 42 medieval Mystery plays from between 1450 and 1500. The manuscript The manuscript is now housed in the British Library, London (BL MS Cotton Vespasian ...

and were inspired by Keith Ramsay (b.1933-d.2021) who was head of drama at Bishop Grosseteste College during the 1970s. In 1974, Keith directed the Oberfuer Cycle which then led to his work, directing the productions every four years between 1978 and 2000 of the Lincoln Mystery Plays. Throughout these years, Keith worked as translator, artistic director and performer. He developed a performance tradition and an important part of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln ...

life. The cycle continues to this day, with the next cycle expected in 2022. The plays are performed in the

and

Southwell Minster Southwell Minster () is a minster and cathedral in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England. It is situated miles from Newark-on-Trent and from Mansfield. It is the seat of the Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham and the Diocese of Southwell and N ...

. Apart from the

Mystery Plays Mystery plays and miracle plays (they are distinguished as two different forms although the terms are often used interchangeably) are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the represen ...

themselves, there are occasionally other performances. For example, in 2003, ''Mister Wesley'', a new play by

Roy Clarke Royston Clarke Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 28 January 1930), usually known as Roy Clarke, is an English comedy writer best known for creating the sitcoms ''Last of the Summer Wine'', ''Keeping Up Appearances'', ''Open All Hours'' a ...

, who also wrote

Last of the Summer Wine ''Last of the Summer Wine'' is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke and originally broadcast by the BBC from 1973 to 2010. It premiered as an episode of ''Comedy Playhouse'' on 4 January 1973, and the first series of episodes foll ...

, was performed in Lincoln and Southwell. In 2014, "The Last Post" was performed by the Lincoln Mystery Plays company at The Drill Hall, and based on the true story of th
Beechey brothers
The Beecheys' were a local family in the First World War, who had eight brothers, all of which signed up to fight. Of the eight, five were killed and one was badly injured. The family's youngest daughter, Edith (Edie) and her mother Amy kept over three hundred letters from the brothers, all of which are now housed at th
Lincolnshire Archives
This was then followed in 2018 by "The World at her Feet" written by local playwright Steve Gillard marking the 100th anniversary of WW1 and tells the story of women's' football in Lincoln during the war years. This was performed in November 2018 at the

Lincoln Drill Hall The Drill, previously known as Lincoln Drill Hall, is a former drill hall in Lincoln, England, which is now used as a multi-purpose community hub, hosting live music, comedy shows, pantomimes and live wrestling performances. It is currently under ...

Format

The Mystery Plays tell the story of mankind as seen through the eyes of a person from the Middle Ages. The plays are usually set between the birth of Christ and his crucifixion. The plays were written in

middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...

, the language of the ordinary people of that time. These great guild productions flourished over 200 years in cities throughout the land until

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

and the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

ended the tradition.

Revival

The plays were almost forgotten for hundreds of years. The first major revival was in 1951 in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

by E Martin Brown. In 1969 a production of "The Lincoln Cycle of Mystery Plays" was performed at the Cathedral in conjunction with Lincoln Theatre Royal. Adapted from a translation by Martial Rose. First performance was 23 August 1969. Principal actors were Brian Tree,

Brian Protheroe Brian Protheroe (born 16 June 1944) is an English musician, actor and narrator. He is best known for his first single, "Pinball", which was released in August 1974, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 40 and reached a peak of number 22. ...

and

Alison Steadman Alison Steadman (born 26 August 1946) is an English actress. She received the 1991 National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress for the Mike Leigh film '' Life Is Sweet'' and the 1993 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her role as Ma ...

. The production was directed by

Clare Venables Clare Rosamund Venables (17 March 1943 – 17 October 2003) was an English theatre director. She was artistic director of regional theatres in Lincoln, Stratford East (London), and Sheffield; she became Director of Education at the Royal Shakespear ...

and assisted by

Rhys McConnochie Rhys or Rhŷs is a popular Welsh given name (usually male) that is famous in Welsh history and is also used as a surname. It originates from Deheubarth, an old region of South West Wales, with famous kings such as Rhys ap Tewdwr. It is pronounced ...

. In 1978, Keith Ramsay revived the Lincoln or

plays in Lincoln. He directed nine productions in

and two in

. 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, The United States. This, 1989, was the first time Mystery Plays was performed in th
States
2000 was Mr Ramsay's last production of the Mystery Plays: 2004 saw Karen Crow directing, 2008's production was directed by Geoff Readman, the 2012 production was directed by John Bowtell, 2016 by Colin Brimblecombe and the next production, delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, will be directed by Tom Straszewski in July / August 2022 at Lincoln Cathedral and on an unprecedented county-wide tour of principal churches (St James' Louth; St Mary's Horncastle; St Denys' Sleaford and All Saints' Gainsborough) . 2011 saw a Gala Night held as a fund raiser (for the 2012 production) and directed by Angela Gunstone pulling together performances and actors from 1969 to present day performers. Attributed to the show of 69, Lincoln Theatre Royal hosted this show. ''Ian Dickens, artistic director of the Theatre Royal, said: "We're really happy to be working with the Lincoln Mystery Plays Trust. "The plays are very important to the community and it's essential they raise as much funds as possible so they can keep going. We have given the trust the Theatre Royal for that night and anything they manage to raise is theirs to keep."'
Lincolnshire Echo
13.6.11''

Gallery

Image:Mp2000.jpeg, Poster for the Millennium Production
credit: Phil Crow File:Adoration of the Shepherds (Lincoln Mystery Play, 1997).jpg, 1997. Adoration of the Shepherds. Maunfras (Keith Ramsay), Joseph (Bob Shirley), Mary (Laura Davies) and Baby Jesus
credit: Phil Crow Image:mp3.jpg, 1994. The Deposition. Mary (

Louie Ramsay Louie Ramsay (25 November 1929 – 6 March 2011) was a British actress perhaps best known to television audiences for her portrayal of the wife of Chief Inspector Reg Wexford on the ITV television series ''Ruth Rendell Mysteries''. In real life, ...

) and Jesus (Neil Perkins)
credit: Phil Crow

External links

The Official Lincoln Mystery Plays Website

Database website listing all Passion Plays

Lincoln Lip-dub filmed July 2013 By BBC Lincolnshire features some of the cast of the Lincoln Mystery Plays from 5:51
Christian plays Culture in Lincolnshire English plays Folk plays Cultural depictions of Herod the Great Lincoln Cathedral Plays based on European myths and legends Plays based on other plays Plays based on the Bible Plays set in the 1st century

Background

Format

Revival

Gallery

Further reading

External links