Local writer's play to debut at Southwell Minster in July
A local writer's play inspired by a famous religious dispute is set to premiere at Southwell Minister in late July.
The show called 'Not Just Fish and Ships' is based on the Synod and Whitby dispute in 664 which had a lasting influence on the Christian church, where a Northumbrian King ordered followers to practice religion according to Roman, not Irish customs.
Such practices included tonsure - the cutting or shaving of some or all of the hair on the scalp - as a sign of religious devotion or humility.
"There's something very powerful about putting the theatre into church spaces – which is where drama began, back in the Middle Ages," said playwrite and freelance journalist Pat Ashworth.
"I wanted to write something with a religious theme that would accord with some of these sacred spaces, and the Minster is a familiar and wonderful place to me.”
Pat, an Anglican who worships in Bramcote, was inspired by seeing Shakespeare’s Henry V at the Minster performed by the company, Antic Disposition, in 2017.
‘Not Just Fish and Ships’ is based on true events which saw British Pagans converted by two sets of missionaries, the Romans and the Irish, both who had their own traditions including the date of Easter and monks' haircuts.
Pat said the friction involved some strong characters, calling it a "courtroom drama": "Colman, the impetuous Bishop of Lindisfarne, is pitted against the very clever and ambitious Wilfrid, Abbot of Ripon, who tries to tear him apart. The King is there with his own worries – he’s got a north-south divide in the country.
"There’s the herdsman-turned-musician, Caedmon, who’s in a world of his own, and there’s the Abbess Hilda trying to hold it all together. Much like our own times, really…”.
Depicting monastic life in Anglo-Saxon England, the show has been dedicated to Bishop Roy Williamshire, who led what Pat described as an "inspirational Celtic pilgrimage" to Iona in 2005.
The play is being directed by a friend of Pat's, Julian Hanby, who worked beside her on the on the promenade Nativity in 2011, Star Safari in 2014 and a First World War commemoration Beyond the Bluebells in 2018 and have jointly formed Headland Theatre - a community of actors and creatives who come together for collaborations.
Funding from Arts Council England has been awarded to the project so it is able to tour five other sacred spaces after its debut in Southwell.
Dates and performances are:
Southwell Minster - Thursday July 25 and Friday 26, 7.30pm
St Peter’s, Nottingham - Saturday July 27, 3pm and 7.00pm
St Mary Magdalene, Sutton-in-Ashfield - Saturday September 14, 3pm and 7.00pm
Peterborough Cathedral - Saturday September 21, 3pm and 7.00pm
St Mary & St Laurence, Bolsover Saturday September 28, 3pm
Hull Minster - Saturday October 26, 2.30pm and 7pm
Tickets, £12 and £10 (concessions) are available in person from the Minster shop or online at: www.ticketsource.co.uk/headland-theatre
