hroughout the 1950s, E. Martin Browne continued as Director of the Plays. In 1960 David Giles followed in his artistic footsteps, but when William Gaskill was appointed in 1963 he proved to be a much more controversial choice as his Brechtian philosophies left most of the local cast bewildered.

Many famous actors took the part of Christ over these years. Joseph O’Conor was a most memorable figure in 1951 and 1954; Brian Spink took the role in 1957 followed by Tom Criddle in 1960 and Alan Dobie in 1963. In 1966, E. Martin Browne was asked to return to direct and John Westbrook played Christ, but in 1969 York Corporation had found another local man to direct - Edward Taylor - who decided not to invite a single professional actor - rather to have three York based actors play the part of Christ, God and Judas in rotation: John White, Peter Blanchard and Gerald Lomas.

The first production for which we have sourced archival film was in 1969 - and of course our understanding of the Plays grows accordingly at this point. Suddenly we get a real sense of the number of people involved with the making of the Plays - the workload, the problems of building a set in the open air and the joys of taking part in these remarkable productions.

The Plays continued to take place in the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey until 1988. In 1973, John Stuart Anderson took the role again under the direction of Edward Taylor, followed by David Bradley working alongside Jane Howell in 1976; Christopher Timothy played Christ under Patrick Garland’s direction in 1980 with Toby Robertson taking the reins in 1984 with actor Simon Ward. The final production in St Mary’s Abbey was directed by Steven Pimlott with Victor Banerjee playing Christ.