There’s more than one kind of mystery at play in this adaptation of CJ Sansom’s historical crime novel. The scene opens not on Matthew Shardlake, Sansom’s lawyer-detective protagonist, but on a centuries-old local theatrical tradition: the York Mystery Plays, performed on wagons by city guildswomen. Until, that is, Henry VIII arrives, putting an end to this much-loved ritual.
It’s an ingenious framing device from adapter Mike Kenny. Immediately, he connects this present-day outdoor community production to the city’s long history of theatre by and for the people. He also conjures up a chorus in the form of the thwarted guildswomen. They guide us through the rest of the drama, narrating offstage plot points, concealing key events to keep us in suspense and adding a collective female voice to what could otherwise be a male-dominated story.
