York Mystery Plays

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Press Cuttings : Donations to NCEM archive

Item type: Press Cuttings
Archive reference: YMP/F/16/6
Date/year: 1885 to date
Description: Below are briefly listed a sample of donations which have been made to the Mystery Plays Archive held at the National Centre for Early Music, in the last few years.  We are grateful for all donations, but are here withholding the names of donors as not all permissions have been sought.  Fuller details are available from the archivist at the NCEM. The list is in chronological order of Plays, not of donations.

•  Lucy Toulmin Smith, York Plays: The Plays Performed by the Crafts or Mysteries of York, on the Day of Corpus Christi in the 14th, 15th, and 16th Centuries published 1885 by Clarendon Press, reprinted New York 1963  
• The Miracle Play in England: an account of the early religious drama by Sidney W Clarke, 1894
• 1909 York Pageant script
• 1909 York Pageant score
  
• 1909 booklet listing cast members of each scene
• 1909 illustrated souvenir of the Pageant, including adverts and many photos of organisers and cast
• 1951 scrapbook of programme and photographs compiled by stage manager Edward Scurr
  
• 1951 watercolour by J S Purvis of the first production
• Professional photographs of the 1954 Plays in Museum gardens and rehearsals
• A copy of magazine Yorkshire Life Illustrated, June 1954, with article about the Plays
  
• Two tablecloths embroidered with the signatures of the actors in the 1957 and 1960 plays by a member of the cast (see an extract below)
• A ticket for the 1957 plays
• A programme for the 1960 plays signed by the cast, donated by an actor
  
• Programme of 1963 wagon play Abraham and Isaak
• Two photographs of Alan Dobie as Jesus in 1963, iincluding Ian McShane as Lucifer
• Several Yorkshire Evening Press cuttings about the Plays in preparation
  
• 1969 script of Plays in Museum Gardens, donated by an actor
• 1976 script of Plays in Museum Gardens, donated by an actor
• 1984 actor's script, donated by the family of Ursula Groom
  
• 1984 Festival brochure, with tickets (see here for information about other ticket prices)
• Wonderful scrapbook collated by Rosemary and Arthur Pickering about York Festival and Friends, covering 1951 - 1984
  
• Photographs and script of 1986 and 1987 production of The Yorkshire Mysteries, held in the St John Arts Centre, Micklegate
• 1988 script of Plays in Museum Gardens, donated by an actor, and legal document about conditions of use of the Gardens that year
  
• Scrapbook with much information about the 1992 production of the Plays in York Theatre Royal, donated by York Theatre Royal
• Scrapbook of press cuttings collected by Ursula Groom covering 1977 - 1993
  
• Copy of 1996 script with stage directions of the Plays in York Theatre Royal
• Papers regarding the administration of the 1998 wagon plays
• Papers regarding the administration of the 2000 production in York Minster
• 2001 report by Friends of York Minster, in which there is an article about the previous year's Plays
• Administrative, licensing, insurance and legal details of the 2002 wagon production
  
• Programmes of academic conferences held in 2010 and 2011 about the Plays
• Rehearsal draft of the 2012 script of Plays in Museum Gardens
• Recording from TV programme Calendar with two lead actors discussing the 2012 production
• Book by York Archaeological Trust about Guild items excavated which can be linked to the medieval mystery plays
• T shirts from the 2012 Potters team
• Rehearsal schedule, steward T shirts, rehearsal and performance photographs from the 2016 production in York Minster. 
  
• a copy of the 2016 score. 
  
• a programme from the London and Sheffield production of Peter Gill's The York Realist.
  
• Papers from the York Mystery Plays Supporters Trust. The Trust performed A Nativity for York at Christmas 2019. In July 2021 in Dean's Park with York Minster and the Guilds of York they produced A Resurrection for York. A script, photos and a tailored facemask from the production were donated to the archive.