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Creation to Doomsday

The ‘mystery plays’ are a revival of a medieval tradition of plays.Ìý These would take place as part of day long festivals, where various local craftsmen’s organisations would all perform different plays.

The craft groupings – known as ‘guilds’ - competed with each other for which group could produce the best play.

The reason that these plays are known as ‘mysteries’ is because ‘mystery’ is the old word for a craft.

Lichfield plays

Mystery plays themselves are all dramatisations based on stories from the Bible, and together they form the story of Creation all the way to Doomsday.
However there is no 'set' form for the plays and they can vary from tradition to tradition and city to city.

In Lichfield, there are twenty-six different plays or sketches telling the Bible story; and they take place on three different stages over the two days.

Each play is performed twice over on the outdoor stage in the Market Square, and also on the indoor Cathedral stage.
Select plays will also be performed on a third mobile stage, which will move across the district.

Participation

The plays involve hundreds of people - who come from a variety of groups, such as schools, drama groups, and even people who have gotten together specifically for the event.

The residents of Lichfield are actively encouraged to take part in the acting, production and organisation of the festival, as the idea is that the plays are owned by the community at large.

All the performances are also free to watch.

The last event was in July 2009, with the next in 2012. For more details, please click on the link below –