THE BAPTISM (2015 Revival)   

Saturday, 1 August, 2015

National Centre for Early Music, York

Presented for the York Mystery Plays Conference

Synopsis

The York Baptism was designed to explain both the sacrament of baptism, and its particular meaning in relation to Jesus, to its audience. It begins with John trying to understand why he is tasked with baptising a man he knows to be the incarnation of God, and continues as Jesus arrives to be baptised, which is the beginning of their friendship. The Baptism is a moment where the connection between God, his son, and mankind is simply but elegantly demonstrated.

About Our Production

We were very honoured to be asked to bring The Baptism, our production for the 2014 York Mystery Plays, back for the YMP conference the following summer. The conference is always an interesting mixture of talks by both academics and practitioners of medieval drama, winding up with an example of these still-living plays as a way to remind ourselves of why we work on them.

The production was essentially the same as the previous summer. We were fortunate to be able to get the majority of the cast back together. Our goal with The Baptism was to focus on the connections between the characters, and the meaning of those relationships in both personal and theological terms, as a means of illustrating these points to viewers, just as they did in the Middle Ages.

The Cast

God: Charles Hunt

John the Baptist: Mark Burghagen

Jesus: Ehren Mierau

Angel 1: James Witchwood

Angel 2: Kate Thomas

Director: Laura Elizabeth Rice

Producer: Ian S. Murphy

Production Manager: Nathan A. Bargate

Stage Manager: Ian S. Murphy