My sons and I have just returned from the "Winchester Passion" which was unsurprisingly in Winchester!This was a live reenactment of the last week of Jesus life, set in the streets of Winchester, along the lines of the Manchester Passion of 2006. Sadly tonight we weren't treated to Judas singing "Heaven knows I'm miserable now"!
There were three main sites where the story unfolded. The first was Oram's Arbour, which is a large grassed area at the north of the City. Here they re-enacted the ride into Jerusalem and the Jewish authorities starting their plotting. Sadly it was quite windy and the scenes (viewed via big screen) were a bit hit and miss with wind and microphone issues not helping.
The action then moved down through the city to the Law courts and Great Hall (home of King Arthur's round table). This was where we were standing and we were able to see quite a lot live without use of the screens. This improved the experience considerably and with sound quality much better as well, we started to engage with all that we were witnessing. We had a particularly great view of the scenes with Pilate (played as British army general in dress uniform). We even got to shout for Barabbas to be released at the appropriate time (although I was really tempted to shout "release Roger" I managed to control myself!).
Jesus was then marched down through the centre of the City and was crucified in front of the Cathedral, which we managed to get to see "live" despite a pit-stop at McD's. I'm not sure that everyone had read the book, as after Jesus died many people started to leave, which meant they missed the best bit!
The resurrection was played out on the same spot as the crucifixion, and then Jesus walked through the crowd, right pass where we were stood.
The whole evening was broadcast live by the local BBC radio station and at one point the music included the World premier of a new choral work by Sir john Tavener.
It wasn't the most polished production but it still got the message across well and Winchester was packed, so it drew a good crowd.
1 comment:
Q: Did you get his autograph?
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