I recently spent an enjoyable day with some of the cast and production team of the 2013 Chester Mystery Plays to create some miniature Audio Dramas for their website. Accompanied by writer Stephanie Dale and director Peter Leslie Wild, we recorded on location around the venue (in the Cathedral library, and the garden of a house on Abbey Square once occupied by Rev Charles Kingsley, who as well as being Canon of Chester Cathedral somehow managed to find time to write The Water Babies!).
In the course of a few hours recording, we brought Lazarus from his grave, followed Abraham and Isaac on their journey to the boy’s near-sacrifice, and heard Mary Magdalene’s poetic lament. Editing took place in the couple of days afterwards, including the addition of piano scorings from the Plays’ Musical Director and composer Matt Baker.
The finished pieces are now on the Home Page at www.chestermysteryplays.com so please do have a listen.
The Plays are a community project involving amateur actors and musicians from the area, and have been in rehearsals for six months. The performances are now little more than a week away, and the Cathedral set is looking spectacular. I’m back up there for a few days this week to help set up the sound for the live shows, and am thrilled to have played a small part in what I’m sure will be a wonderful spectacle.