A little known legacy of Fr Edward

Over twenty years ago, I was asked if I wanted to be part of an open-air Passion Play in the gardens of a large country house in Wales. It sounded like fun and sure enough it was. As is often the way in amateur dramatics, I found myself with a few roles- the disciple Philip, Roman centurion in charge of the crucifixion and the donkey handler! It was there that I met Peter Hutley who had written the play following a dramatic conversion experience. It turns out the catalyst behind Peter’s conversion was Fr Edward who’d previously taken his wife Anne and their daughter, Charlotte to Medjugorje.

Back in 1989 Anne and Peter, inspired by The Passion plays of Oberammergau, returned to their Estate in Wintershall, Surrey where they set about doing something similar and, since then, have been putting on large-scale productions for both schools and the public. The plays are immersive experiences  involving lakes, boats, horses, donkeys, pigeons and a cast of about 100. Many of the actors come back year after year.

This year both Hugh Blake James (H90) and James McBrien (O86) took part in this year’s Passion Play in Trafalgar Square performing to a live audience of 20,000. You can watch a recording of the play here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1mjlTj0hso

Wintershall will be staging The Life of Christ on their Estate 17-21 June and then a production of The Nativity (indoor) 16-21 December.

High-quality productions of this nature cost a lot of money to stage. Wintershall is currently seeking to raise £100,000 to keep these events going.  For more details click https://www.wintershall.org.uk/#whats-on. 

For more information on how to remember Fr Edward please click HERE