| Where: | York - city centre, sometimes in the Minster or Museum Gardens |
| When: | June, usually every 4 years |
| Time: | See website link |
The Mystery Plays at York are a revival of the medieval tradition of acting out Biblical stories, which were originally performed at Corpus Christi involving each of the city’s trade guilds putting on a play on portable wagons, but were suppressed at the reformation. The name “mystery” comes from an old English term for trade or craft, and has nothing whatever to do with crime drama! In modern times the full cycle of performances are usually performed every four years and recent locations have included the Minster Gardens and the interior of the Minster itself. Sometimes there are performances of parts of the cycle in the interim years, and sometimes the outdoor performances are made upon the traditional style wagons. The vast majority of the performers are amateur actors and they tell stories from the Creation to the Last Judgement including the Crucifixion, with inventive props and lavish costumes. The performances are usually staged during June, which is around the original performance period in medieval times. Similar performances take place at regular intervals at Chester and Lincoln (see separate articles for details).
Helpful Hints
The next full run of performances is due in 2026- details yet to be announced.
In 2016 the Plays took place over the course of a month throughout June, with performances inside York Minster lasting around 3 hours including a short interval, and performances also took place in 2018. The most recent performances were in 2022 on June 19th, 22nd 23rd and and 26th at locations around the city- check the links below for full details .
Click here for the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Mysteryplaysyork
Click here for the event website and to purchase tickets : http://www.yorkmysteryplays.co.uk
Photo by Mikey Bean. I went to the 2016 cycle inside the Minster and thus wasn’t able to take photos!
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