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Eccleston & Greig Lead Abbey Bible Celebration

Christopher Eccleston and Whatsonstage.com Award-winner Tamsin Greig will star in the Bush Theatre's celebration of the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible, In The Beginning, a promenade performance which takes place at Westminster Abbey on Thursday 24 March 2011.

A short work by playwright Nick Payne In The Beginning interweaves extracts from the King James Bible selected by Revd Dr James Hawkey with a journey round the Abbey. It will access areas that are rarely open to the public and highlight idiosyncrasies of the Abbey’s history.

The stellar cast, for what is described as an "intimate tour", were today confirmed as Ralf Little, Sharon Small, Samuel Barnett, Nonso Anozie, Jamie Ballard, Joseph Chance, Morven Christie, Chipo Chung, Martin Hutson, Poppy Miller, Harry Peacock, Miranda Raison, Geoffrey Streatfeild, Michelle Terry, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Andrew Woodall and Sargon Yelda.

The work sees the King James Bible performed in the Abbey 400 years after a group of scholars gathered together in its Jerusalem Chamber to finalise the text's translation.

Directed by Bush artistic director Josie Rourke and the theatre's associate Christopher Haydon, In The Beginning is a one-off event with performances moving round the Abbey for 40 minute tours.

Nick Payne's previous playwriting credits include If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet which was staged at the Bush in October 2009.

The Bush's celebration, which has been produced in conjunction with the Dean and Chapter of Westminster, joins other cultural events celebrating the King James Bible's 400th anniversary, including Shakespeare's Globe, who will launch their 2011 "The Word is God" season with a cover-to-cover unstaged reading around the Easter weekend.

- by Andrew Girvan

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