Discover the Mysteries

The York Mystery Plays were performed by the medieval craft guilds, and reflected the artistry of their communities. This tradition was resurrected in the 20th century and still goes on today, in the streets, parks and historic buildings of York.

Over the course of the year, I'm creating all 47 plays from the York Mystery Plays- using household objects and filmed at homes.

Create Your Own

You and your household are invited to create your own performance, with help from theatre director Tom Straszewski. In a time when we can no longer gather in person to create plays in person, we can instead find our own ways of performing in our own homes.

Watch the Plays

As each play is released, you'll be able to watch them via the website and Youtube- including discussion of the ideas and processes behind them.

We hope these will then become part of an online festival of the York Mystery Plays in Autumn 2021.

Part of a PhD project on Community Theatre at the University of York
York Mysteries@home is part of an ongoing investigation into community theatre in York, as part of a PhD by Creative Practice in Theatre (Directing). For further details on Tom Straszewski, please click here.
Supervised by Dr Ollie Jones (TFTI) and Dr Kate Giles (Archaeology). Funded by the Department of Theatre, Film, Television and Interactive Media.