Kilkenny theatre company and church to combine for milestone anniversary

Celebrating 800 years in Kilkenny, the Black Abbey has joined forces with Lake Productions to perform a mystery play, The Man Born to be King, at the church.

The theatre company has adapted some bible text to suit a production and will stage it for three nights from September 9 to 11 with tickets available on Eventbrite. Such plays were performed in Kilkenny many years ago, although they would have been staged on the streets.

Lake Productions have engaged the help of Kilkenny writer John Morton as script writer and Darren Donohoe as director, while over 30 performers from various drama groups will take part. The show will be complemented by The Kilkenny Gospel choir, who themselves celebrate their 25th anniversary this year.

The religious or mystery plays originated in the wish of the clergy to substitute for the profane games with which the people were amused. The plays, whilst giving entertainment, would also inculcate a moral lesson to the people.

They were first performed in churches by members of religious communities, but gradually moved to the open air around the 13th century, and soon characters were performed by young men of various trades.

Plays were no doubt staged in Kilkenny during that period, but the earliest recorded date is August 20, 1552, when two of Bishop Bale’s plays were performed.

Bale himself recorded: “The young men in the fore noon played a tragedy of God’s Promises at the Market Cross. In the afternoon they played St John’s Preachings of Christ’s Baptism.”

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Festivals such as Easter and Christmas were usually selected for the performances and in 1610 the Corporation ordered that Corpus Christi be celebrated and carpenters be employed to make rails for keeping out horses and mobs.

In July of the same year the Corporation gave a salary of 20 shillings for allowing the apparel used by players on Corpus Christi and the Resurrection and a sum of three pounds, thirteen shillings and four pence was granted to William Consey in 1631 for teaching the children of the natives to read and write for the play on Corpus Christi.

Why the Corporation should patronise the plays is obvious for they not only helped to draw people away from other modes of recreation regarded as evil, but drew greater attendance to the Corpus Christi Fair and thereby increased the trade of the city.

The mysteries or plays continued to be performed in Kilkenny until 1650 when they were discontinued and put down as offensive to the Cromwellians who had settled in the city.

The upcoming Black Abbey production will hark back to this centuries old tradition and has been made possible by the sponsorship of The Kilkenny Public Commemoration scheme 2025, in association with Kilkenny County Council.