Playing a Part in History

<p><i>The York Mystery Plays</i> are a cycle of originally performed on wagons in the city. They date from the fourteenth century and Biblical narrative from Creation to Last Judgment. After nearly four hundred years without a performance, a revival of the York Mysteries began in 1951 when local amateurs led by professional theatre practitioners staged them during the festival of Britain. <i>Playing a Part in History</i> examines the ways in which the revival of these plays transformed them for twentieth- and twenty-first-century audiences.</p> <p>Considering such topics as the contemporary popularity of the plays, the agendas of the revivalists, and major production differences, Margaret Rogerson provides a fascinating comparison of medieval and modern English drama. Drawing extensively on archival material, and newspaper and academic reviews of the plays in recent years, <i>Playing a Part in History</i> is not only an illuminating account of early English drama, but also of the ways in which theatre allows people to interact with the past.</p>