It is an inspired idea to present the Mystery Plays with the audience sitting on two sides of Chester Cathedral’s lofty nave. It is partly that the arrangement creates a striking theatrical corridor. Being long and thin, it is the ideal space for an enormous serpent to slither along after disrupting the tranquillity of Adam and Eve (Luke Hallam and Felicity Parry). It is just the right fit for a tablecloth around which the disciples can sit cross-legged for a last supper – as if their table stretched the length of a church. And it is big enough to accommodate the entire 200-strong cast for a rapturous curtain call.
But that is only half the story. With one bank of seating positioned so closely opposite the other, it also keeps this most democratic of theatrical traditions in the hands of the people. As our attention ping pongs from the stained-glass window at one end to the transept crossing at the other, we never lose sight of being part of an audience.
