Drama at St Marks

See Special Events for upcoming drama and music events.

St Mark's Newnham has developed a strong tradition in drama over the last decade. Following the staging (and touring) of an anthology of John Betjeman's religious poetry (A Hint of the Unknown God) in 1995, T S Eliot's Murder in the Cathedral was given a modern-dress production in the church for a run of 5 performances in 1997 with a large cast.

To mark the Millennium the church hosted and co-ordinated a dramatisation of the whole of the New Testament (The Real Reason) which was performed by eleven separate Cambridge-based theatre companies on eleven evenings to full-houses over a five-week period at the end of 1999. The evenings included dance, choral music, and visually oriented presentations, and were called a unique example of the marriage between the church and the performing arts.

In 2002, a new version of Les Ellison's adult Nativity play Do the Kings Still Wear Curtains? was premiered, again to capacity audiences. In this the members of an traditional Nativity tableau set out to recruit younger deputies and then discuss the significance of their roles in a set of amusing and intriguing dialogues.

From January 2004 - April 2004, with the assistance of Cameo Theatre Company, the church adapted and staged the 12 plays of Dorothy L Sayers's famous radio cycle The Man Born To Be King. The plays covered the life and Passion of Christ, and culminated with 5 plays performed in Holy Week, each one played at the appropriate time of observance in the Christian calendar. A cast of over 100 took part, and the event attracted national publicity and review.

Below, selected scenes from the production of Dorothy L. Sayers' "The Man Born to Be King", performed at St Mark's Church, Newnham.

In 2005-2006 there were three more major drama productions at St Mark's.

In September 2005 Cameo Theatre Company (run by two St Mark's members) staged a production of Dana Bagshaw's award-winning play CELL TALK (about Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe of Lynn) as part of an East Anglian tour.

In November there were full houses for the four performances of the Russell Labey/Richard Taylor musical WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND which involved a large cast of Newnham adults and teenagers. Rex Walford directed and James Lark was Musical Director. Part of the north aisle of the church was temporarily transformed into the barn, where village children find a tramp whom they believe to be Jesus.

At Easter 2006, after playing in Ely Cathedral and other Cambridgeshire churches, Cameo Theatre Company returned to stage two performances of R F Delderfield's SPARK IN JUDEA in church on Good Friday and Easter Eve. This almost forgotten 1936 play (believed by the author to be the best piece he ever wrote) proved to be an exciting and colourful piece and drew large audiences and much appreciative comment.

St Mark’s staged notable drama of a different kind in October 2007. Churchwarden Nick Warburton, fresh from having a play of his staged in the summer at the Stephen Joseph Theatre at Scarborough (Alan Ayckbourn’s base), scripted a drama event publicised initially as an invitation to the 'Harvest-Supper wedding’. Full houses (many suitably garbed for the occasion) came for the wedding of Charlotte Harvest to Anthony Supper, but some untoward events occurred and Inspector Richard ‘Dick’ Barton (who fortunately happened to be in the congregation) was called on to sort things out and try and solve the Case of the Disgruntled Flower Arranger.

After the cast of colourful characters had acted out the initial scenario, the audience adjourned to the specially decorated hall where, in groups, they could interview members of the cast, whilst enjoying the food provided for the ‘wedding reception’. A lively team of teenage ushers kept the groups in order and also urged them on to conclusions before bringing them back to the church for Act 3 of the mystery. Here, more unexpected events occurred before the inspector stumbled upon the solution to the whole
affair. One member of the audience later remarked "Altogether a
light-hearted triumph".

Reviews of these productions can be found in the monthly St Mark's magazine, SEEK

St Mark's is associated with the Religious Drama Society of Grest Britain (RADIUS) whose headquarters are at 58-60 Lincoln Road, Peterborough PE1 2RZ. If you would like to know more about (or be involved in) plans for future drama at St Mark's, phone 01223 -323519 or come to a Sunday service and mention this to one of the sidespeople who will introduce you to one of the many drama enthusiasts in the congregation.