York Mystery Plays

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Delma Tomlin Personal Folder : Costs of Plays

Item type: Delma Tomlin Personal Folder
Archive reference: YMP/O/4/3
Date/year: 1973,1983, 2002, 2016
Description: The NCEM holds some material relating to the costs of production of the Mystery Plays.  These relate to:
1973  - stored as YMP/S/1
1980  - stored as YMP/S/2 
1983 - stored as YMP/S/3
2002 - stored as YMP/S/16
On 25 May 2017 the York Press published an article by Mike Laycock about the 2016 production in York Minster.  'Staging the world-famous York Mystery Plays last year cost York Minster almost £600,000 after smaller than expected audiences turned up, the annual accounts and report have revealed.  The Chapter report says that the staging of the Plays last summer was a 'significant financial commitment' and the vast majority of costs associated with the production were in line with budget.  However, it goes on to say 'The uptake of tickets was not as successful as forecast, due to various factors, and the ticket income from this event was significantly reduced; as a result the net cost to the Chapter for producing the Mystery Plays was £589,000'.  The Minster accounts show that expenditure on the Plays was £1,284,000 while income amounted to £657,000.  A spokeswoman said only about 65 per cent of the 40,000 tickets for the 41 performances were sold.'  It was the longest-ever run of the Plays.

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