The Coventry Mystery Plays have been an important part of Coventry’s
cultural life and heritage since their beginnings in medieval times. The plays
have been revived, redefined and reinvented many times in the city’s past,
most recently with the Millennium Mysteries. We hope that this production, will
create a positive profile and provide a memorable experience for the many visitors
to the city who come to the events.
The Mysteries 2003 is a collaboration between the Belgrade Theatre and Macnas
and has been almost two years in the planning. The production builds on a five
year exchange of work and artists working between the two companies including
the Belgrade’s production of The Twits, the Carnival which Shaskeen Theatre
have produced in partnership with the Belgrade since 2000 and Gráinne
Mhaol, Macnas’es large scale production which played in Galway City and
Coventry Cathedral Ruins in 2002. Both companies have a lot of experience of
outdoor work and see community participation as a central part of their work
this has given us a common understanding and language in approaching this huge
project.
There have been many challenges in producing The Mysteries 2003, not least
deciding how to tell the story in a new and exciting way that would speak to
people today. This challenge has fallen to the directors and the rest of the
creative team.
The main challenge has been in managing the sheer scale and logistical and
financial complexity of the project. With a creative team of 10, production
staff of 30, community cast of 70 in each city and professional cast of 7, 24
pairs of animals, 810 metres of material and 473 reels of cotton to make over
300 costumes, 300 metres of timber and 450 metres of steel for set and props,
plus enough miles of lighting and sound cable to stretch twice round the ring
road, it’s been a real juggling act.
With the creative team split between Ireland and Coventry, and rehearsals,
construction, fund-raising and marketing happening on both sides of the water,
just keeping everyone in touch with what is happening has been a major task
in itself. Now that the play is here there is obviously much less to do and
our main task is to hope for fine weather, and that the audience have a great
time.
Claire Maddocks & Jane Hytch
Producers
Macnas and the Mysteries
Macnas is delighted to collaborate with The Belgrade on The Mysteries 2003
and to follow in the footsteps of Teatr Biuro Podrozy, who created such a memorable
performance in Galway in 1997 with Carmen Funebre.
At the centre of this production are the community casts in both cities who
have been involved in a lengthy and challenging rehearsal and preparation period
working with two co-directors and their assistants on both sides of the Irish
Sea. This community process is surrounded by an extraordinary collection of
artists and technicians and we are very proud to have helped assemble such a
team. The creative mix of people is particularly rich and culturally diverse,
clearly evident in the final production.
In Macnas we emphasise people's individual creativity and work together to
create work collaboratively. This emphasis on creativity creates a place where
our community is both participant and audience in the creative process : a place
where ownership, pride, involvement and passion are encouraged in all. The Belgrade
team are also skilled and experienced in producing work with large community
casts and we have learned much from working with them.
Many words have been used to describe our work in the past : parade, pageant,
performance. Perhaps there isn't one simple word to describe this type of work,
which is influenced by many different performance traditions. Our aim has always
been to retell The Mysteries 2003, which is made up of some of the world's oldest
stories, in a new and innovative way, and in a way that challenges ourselves
and our audience's expectations. I hope we have achieved this. Enjoy the show.
