The Durham Mystery Plays (Lazarus)

‘The Durham Mysteries’ is a contemporary revival of Durham’s medieval mystery play cycle for a modern audience performed at Durham Cathedral, The Gala Theatre and other sites in the City. Nothing remains of the original cycle apart from a fragment of the prologue so this project requires a complete reimagining of the plays and the event itself. Working in collaboration with playwright Judy Upton to re-imagine the story of ‘Lazarus’ we created a site-specific work as part of this major theatrical landmark for 2010. RESEARCH QUESTIONS: 1. To explore the relationships between biblical narrative and mediaeval theatrical traditions within a contemporary investigation of site specificity in performance. 2. To what extent can a contemporary version successfully transpose the political and moral implications of the story of Lazarus into a modern British context. Combining naturalistic performances with theatrical spectacle; live feed filming with site specific performance the aim of this piece was to make a seamless journey from an ‘invisible theatre’ to the spectacle of the arrival of Jesus triggering a mass ‘flash mob response’ from elements of the audience.