Passion of Jesus to be staged in Trafalgar Square this Easter
Of all the obstacles strewn in Jesus's path, keeping his weight to 51kg (8st) to ride a donkey into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday was not one of them. But health and safety requirements will be uppermost in the minds of a group staging a Passion play in Trafalgar Square, the first to be performed in the central London location.
At a press conference today in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, director Ashley Herman said: "There are laws regarding the use of animals and children in theatre. It's hard enough doing Oliver!, but when you get them into a public arena it's a nightmare."
Herman, together with a group of devout Christians, is putting on The Passion of Jesus this Easter in Trafalgar Square. With a cast of about 150 actors, donkeys, horses and an artificial tomb, the organisers anticipate some 25,000 spectators. It is less ambitious than the Life of Christ, a six-hour epic performed annually at the Wintershall estate in Surrey involving camels, a lake acting as both the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee, more than 200 actors and 30 sheep.
Read entire article at Guardian (UK)
At a press conference today in the crypt of St Martin-in-the-Fields, director Ashley Herman said: "There are laws regarding the use of animals and children in theatre. It's hard enough doing Oliver!, but when you get them into a public arena it's a nightmare."
Herman, together with a group of devout Christians, is putting on The Passion of Jesus this Easter in Trafalgar Square. With a cast of about 150 actors, donkeys, horses and an artificial tomb, the organisers anticipate some 25,000 spectators. It is less ambitious than the Life of Christ, a six-hour epic performed annually at the Wintershall estate in Surrey involving camels, a lake acting as both the River Jordan and the Sea of Galilee, more than 200 actors and 30 sheep.