The People
Below are illustrations of some of the notable people who have been involved in the York Mystery Plays since 1951. The Archive holds every programme and every castlist. The page attached to this one names people performing key roles by year. We even have in the archive here a castlist of the 1909 York Pageant (which included the Shepherd's Play from the Corpus Christi Plays).
Victor Banerjee
Jesus: 1988
Steve Bielby
God: 2010 (and other years)
Peter Blanshard
Jesus: 1969. One of three actors playing Jesus, Lucifer and Judas in rotation, that year.
David Bradley
Jesus: 1976. A York man who became a professional actor
E. Martin Browne
Director: 1951, 1954, 1957, 1966
Tom Criddle
Jesus: 1960
Judi Dench
Angel of the Resurrection: 1954 (also Angel: 1951 and Mary: 1957); Wagon Plays patron
Betty Doig
Actor, Props and Wardrobe since 1974.
Greg Doran
Director: 2000 (Minster Millennium production)
Roger Farrington
Shepherd 1980 and many other roles
Ruth Ford
God: 2002 (also God 1996 and various roles since 1973)
Very Rev Ray Furnell, Dean of York
Chairman: Millennium production in York Minster
Director: 1980
David Giles
Director: 1960
Robson Green
1992: Jesus (Robson Green) tempted by Lucifer (Jonathan Mellor)
Ursula Groom
Here wardrobe 1994. Various roles including Treasurer of Festival Trust. Her records have been donated to the NCEM for the Mystery Plays Archive.
God: 2000 (and other roles in other years)
Hans Hess
Curator of York Art Gallery: Asst. Director, 1951 Festival, Artistic Dir 1954 Festival
John Heu
Lazarus: 1957 (and Judas 1951, 1954, 1966)
Jane Howell
Director: 1976 (first woman to direct the Plays)
Ian McShane
Lucifer/Satan 1963
Rory Mulvihill
Herod: 2012 (and numerous roles including Annas, 2016)
Jane Oakshott MBE
Director (wagon plays): 1994, 1998
Joseph O'Conor
Jesus: 1951, 1954
Patrick Olsen
Set designer: 1969 (also photographer and donor to NCEM archive)
Stephen Pimlott
Director: 1988
Richard Shephard MBE
Composer and Musical Director: 2000 and 2016
Citizen: 1960 (far left) Besides playing various roles, she donated photographs and scrapbooks to the NCEM archive.
Director of Movement: 1951, 1954, 1957
Ray Stevenson
Jesus: 2000 (first Minster production)
Edward Taylor
Director: 1969, 1973
Christopher Timothy
Jesus: 1980 (he also opened the play as 'Nick the Carpenter', an Everyman figure)
Douglas Waft
Simon Ward
Jesus: 1984 (photo from 1988 programme)
John Westbrook
Jesus: 1966
Professional actors who started their careers in the York Mystery Plays are known to include: Judi Dench, Jane Snowdon, David Bradley, John White (stage name = Richard Conway), Edward Petherbridge, Mary Ure, Janet McTeer, Richard Coyle, Toby Gordon, Joe Hopper. The NCEM would like to extend this list.
If you would like to add someone to this page, or have archival material which you would like to share with the archive volunteer at the National Centre for Early Music, please see the Contact Us page. This page helps you navigate - it lists all the main pages and their attachments.