Update # 1

As promised, here is the first in what we hope (as long as someone remembers to do it!) will be a weekly roundup of all things Belfast Mystery Plays. Before the roundup proper though, perhaps some further details about the project would be helpful.

The use of the plural 'Plays' in the working title of this project is significant, because, just like the Cycles of the Middle Ages, this is not a single piece of work, a single script, or a single performance. Rather, it is a series of separate but thematically, dramaturgically and logistically linked plays. This system ensures that, while the whole is cohesive, the parts are not homogeneous - they are free to explore and express differences in terms of language, tone, action, humour, pathos and structure. The potential for difference is illustrated in the program of plays we have decided upon:

- 'The Fall of Lucifer' / 'The Fall of the Angels'

- 'Joseph's Trouble About Mary' / 'The Nativity'

- 'The Entry Into Jerusalem'

- 'The Crucifixion'

- 'The Resurrection' / 'The Last Judgement'

This cycle of 5-7 plays presents a contracted view of the huge dramatic and temporal scope produced by the 30-40 plays extant from the Middle Ages. Thus, our cycle opens at the beginning of Creation, finishes at its end, with the centre focusing on the life of Christ.

Which leads us nicely to this week's events. The scripts for 'Joseph's Trouble About Mary' / 'The Nativity' have been drafted, with 'The Fall of Lucifer' / 'The Fall of the Angels' and 'The Crucifixion' soon to follow. On the musical side of things, Chris last week wrote two excellent pieces of music (one of which might work very well in a crucial part of 'The Nativity' - watch this space) and I have adapted and written respectively two songs for the beginning and end of the performance. Finally, Chris and myself have continued to contact and meet with a number of people interested in the project, so all is essentially on schedule.

All that remains to be said is:

Cherry Mishmash!

Eamon