FESTIVAL AT YORK

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30979, 8 February 1966, Page 22

FESTIVAL AT YORK

Mystery Plays Again Feature (N.Z.P.A.-Reuter) LONDON. This year’s sixth York Festival of the arts will bring to York a fine array of international artists and introduce some light entertainment such as cabaret, “beat” music, and jazz for the benefit of the young.

For both young and old, the 600-year-old York cycle of mystery plays, around which the triennial festival has been built, will again be its chief attraction.

The cycle of 48 one-act plays, which tell the story of mankind from the creation to the last judgment, is the work of many different hands. It dates back to 1350 and was regularly acted by members of the city’s guilds on Corpus Christi Day until 1572. Then followed a gap of nearly four centuries until it was revived in 1951 for the first York Festival, in a modern translation by Canon J. S. Purvis. At the 1966 festival, to be held from June to July 3, the plays will be given a new production by E. M. Browne, who directed the original revival. There will be new costumes by Alix Stone, but nothing could improve on the beautiful open-air setting of York’s ruined Saint Mary’s Abbey, a natural decor which has been used year after year.