Preparing River Bank Site

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30666, 4 February 1965, Page 2

Preparing River Bank Site

The power poles being erected along an Avon river bank area, between the Armagh and Gloucester street bridges, are to provide the extensive outdoor lighting for the York Cycle performance of plays to be held during the Pan-Pacific Arts Festival.

Passers-by will see plenty more activity in the locality before February 27, when the season will be opened by the Canterbury Repertory Society in association with other Christchurch drama groups. Before long they will see

a ramp going into the river for the John the Baptist story and a structure going up to overlook the set for “Heaven.”

The York Cycle is a series of short plays, with continuity, from Bible stories. It was originally performed by trade guilds in England during the Middle Ages to teach and to entertain.

In Christchurch the cycle will be presented on the west

bank of the river with the Canterbury Provincial Chambers in the background. The audience will sit in an area on the east side of the river, to be closed to traffic during performances. “This will be family entertainment, not a ‘dress-up’ affair,” said a member of the organising committee yesterday. “They can come as they are from a picnic at the beach.”