Introduction
For more than sixty years, the Players of St Peter have been performing English medieval drama in London, and are, we believe, unique in offering annual productions from the main English mystery cycles. At the end of November each year we perform a selection of plays from one of the four most complete cycles (York, Chester, Wakefield and "N-Towne" – also known as "The Plaie called Corpus Christi"). Our productions take the Bible story as far as the Nativity, presenting a selection of self-contained scenes within the hour-and-a-half duration of each performance.
2012 PRODUCTION
We regret to announce that because of operating changes at St Clement Eastcheap Church – our home since 1998 – it will not be possible for us to present our 2012 production of the York Mystery Plays there as planned.
We are currently looking for an alternative venue, preferably in a central London church, where we can stage our selections from the Mystery cycles in this and future years. We will publicise details of the new venue and performance dates as soon as we are able.
We apologise to all our audience and supporters for any inconvenience or uncertainty that this unexpected change may cause and assure you that we fully expect to continue to bring you our unique productions for the forseeable future.
Thank you for your patience and support.
At the heart of the group is a core of solid scholarship which, along with six decades' collective experience and insight, enables us to adhere as faithfully as we can judge it to the original production style, capturing something of the early spirit and intent (or so we like to think). Although we use electric lighting and the church's organ (not to mention central heating), the dialogue is very much as it was five hundred years ago, following the original texts and adapted only for length and to clarify some of the more obscure language for present-day audiences.
The Players were founded in 1946 in the church of St Peter-upon-Cornhill and in 1998 returned to the City of London, in St Clement Eastcheap church, after spending ten years in west London. (For international visitors, the "City" here means the London financial district, which is in what was the original London before urban sprawl married it to neighbouring boroughs such as the City of Westminster, to create modern metropolitan London).
To navigate this website, use the menu on the left. The headings deliver the following: Home — this introduction; Office — contact addresses, news about our next production and information on taking part etc; Production (when booking opens) — the Director's notes about the forthcoming production and a link to a booking form; Company — fuller information about the history of the Players and an article by Brian Hunt; Mysteries — a brief discourse on the historical background to the Mystery plays; Archive and Gallery — mainly photographs and cast lists from past productions.
If you find yourself in York this summer, you might like to look in on the York Mysteries. Details at www.yorkmysteryplays-2012.com/
