Actors reenacting "The Passion of Christ" on Trafalgar Square
(AFP) – 12 hours ago
LONDON — One of London's best-known urban spaces was given over to an Easter Passion play on Friday with more than 1,000 people watching actors depicting the crucifixion of Christ in Trafalgar Square.
The open-air performance featured an actor being 'crucified' on a cross at the foot of Nelson's Column, the monument to British naval hero Admiral Horatio Nelson, before being 'resurrected' as the London pigeons circled overhead.
Some 120 mostly amateur actors, two horses and a donkey were involved in the full-costume Good Friday production staged by businessman Peter Hutley at a cost of around 50,000 pounds (56,000 euros, 76,000 dollars).
The millionaire has put on a number of Christian plays around Britain since the 1980s, after being 'enlightened' during a 1988 visit to Medjugorje in Bosnia (Herzegovina(!)), where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared several times.
Hutley describes his plays as an invitation to people to get to know Christ personally.
"I'm wanting to get every town, city and village in the country to perform these plays because they have such an impact. I will go on putting them on until I can't do it any more. There's no limit," he told the BBC.