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Ordinalia: Director's Note
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Ordinalia: Director's Note
Location: Cornwall
The Ordinalia Company’s “Resurrection”: A spectacular end and a new beginning.Dominic Knutton (Director) November 2002
This summer the Ordinalia Company, consisting of a team of professional theatre makers and nearly two hundred members of the local community, staged the final part of the Cornish Ordinalia Cycle at St Just in Penwith.
The origins of the project date back to the year 2000, when a one off grant was awarded by the Millennium Commission to stage part one of the cycle: The Creation. prior to that, it may have been hundreds of years since a large scale community production of the plays had taken place. At that time, when the focus was simply trying to make it happen, those involved had no idea how, or indeed if, the project would evolve.
The Creation proved that the plays can still live today. That they are sill relevant, vibrant and effective in a world where spiritual matters are not as clear cut as they were five hundred years ago. It was immediately obvious that the company must continue its journey and produce the second play, The Passion, the following year. The old ghosts of the plen an gway (place of the play) had been awakened, as had the remembrance of the potency (both for community and audience) of these ancient plays. The story demanded to continue to be told.
The benefits of performing the plays are wide ranging for all involved. The community of St Just, and Cornwall, now has something of which to be immensely proud. The Resurrection was seen by four thousand people over its nine performance run, and left people clamouring for more.
The Ordinalia Company is very keen to continue to build upon the investments placed in it by both the community and all those brave enough to support it, but recognises that careful plans must be made in order to insure its longevity. To this end, 2003 will not see a summer production, with the company consulting the people of St Just and deciding what to do next. Many ideas are being considered, from the massive and mad plan to stage all three plays at once, to the idea of filling in some of gaps in the original plays by creating new Ordinalia episodes.
Whatever happens, one thing is certain: the old ghosts won't let us rest, and The Ordinalia now has a life of its own, way beyond all our individual expectations and dreams!
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