The Edinburgh Easter Play is set to mark its tenth year with a profound new perspective on the Easter story. Scripted by writer and journalist Susan Mansfield, this year's performance casts the spotlight on the women in the margins of the Bible, as the story of Jesus' death and resurrection is seen through the eyes of the often overlooked characters around him.
Through dramatic monologues and inventive storytelling, the twelve central characters will offer audiences a new and enlightening perspective on the Gospels in a contemporary spin on the traditional Easter Passion Play. Seen from the point of view of wives and daughters, soldiers and siblings, On the Edge offers an idea of the way in which Jesus affected the lives of the ordinary people around him. The performance will feature a strong focus on female characters, raising questions about the role of women in the Bible and society at the time.
Writer Susan Mansfield is an experienced journalist, having worked as an arts writer and critic at The Scotsman for twelve years. On The Edge is her first full length theatrical work. She says, “I was interested in the fact that there are a lot of characters on the edges of the Easter story who play a role in things, but don’t get a chance to speak. I wanted to see what would happen if they were given a voice. There are references in Bible to a group of women who followed Jesus right through to the end, who witnessed everything. We don’t know anything about them, even their names in most cases, because of the attitude to women in the society of the time. I decided to put these women at the centre, so we can hear their version of events. It’s not exactly a feminist take, but it is hearing the story of Jesus in a fresh way.”
“Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.” (Mark 15:41)
Artistic Director Suzanne Lofthus, has been directing open-air Passion Plays in Scotland since 2000, and has also created a Passion Play with the long-term prisoners in Louisiana State Penitentiary. She says, “Working on the Easter Play for so many years has given …the opportunity to …try [to find] a new approach to the timeless story of Jesus. The actors are mainly drawn from the local community and are a group of people from different backgrounds and beliefs who all work together to present the story in a creative, fun and challenging production. This year, we build on … a series of character monologues, by expanding the stories of those people who witnessed the work of Jesus from the sidelines, and yet were profoundly changed by their experience.”
First staged in 2005, the Edinburgh Easter Play has grown into a large-scale community production, with a cast and crew of volunteers drawn from groups all across the city. Last year's audacious and ground-breaking modern take on the Easter Edinburgh Passion from award-winning playwright Rob Drummond set on the eve of the Scottish independence referendum drew crowds of up to 2500 people to the centre of the city, one of the largest audiences the production has enjoyed in its ten year history.
The free, open-air performance will take place in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens on Saturday 4th April at 2pm.