PRODUCTIONS
SOUTHAMPTON PASSION 2011
On Good Friday 2011 over 9,000 people filled the Guildhall Square in the centre of Southampton to witness this memorable event. An incredible team of people and an amazing cast told the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ right in the heart of the city. There were five different stages, live video relay to two large screens, a procession through the middle of the crowd, a crew of nearly 200 and a cast of 70 and of course our amazing 100 strong choir! It was a gloriously sunny warm April evening. The production was a musical and featured brand new songs written by Nathan Hattersley and Neil Maddock.
It was a truly memorable event and the largest outdoor Christian event to have happened in the city for a long time, The soundtrack is available to purchase if you'd like to hear the music and relive the memories.
THE NATIVITY MUSICAL 2012
The Nativity took to the stage at Southampton Guildhall in December 2012 and was a fresh, original production that maintained the Christian message of the well loved nativity story but used music, song, dance and drama to give this age-old tale a modern retelling.
The script was written by Neil Maddock with music by Phil and Laura Le Cheminant. This brand new musical built on the success of the Southampton Passion – and represented another world premiere for Southampton! It received great feedback with many people commenting on the quality of the performances and the production and was seen by just under 2,500 people over the four shows. The cast and orchestra were made up of volunteers who all gave great performances .
TOM, DICK & HARRY 2013
Working in partnership with Steve Lee (Miracle Street) and New Life Church, Romsey we staged a brand new innovative production at the Plaza Theatre in Romsey in October 2011. The show ran for two nights and was a blend of character acting, illusions, video, music, song and a very clear gospel message. In essence it was a two man show with Neil and Steve carrying the performance between them but they were very ably backed up by a talented band of musicians from the New Life Church. The production focused on the life of three historical figures and drew out a gospel message that was challenging and thought provoking whilst being humorous and entertaining. The show received very positive reviews and led to Neil and Steve working together in the future following a similar format for events at Hope Church in Winchester.
THE JESUS INTERROGATION (Film) 2015
The Jesus Interrogation is a short film that we made in 2015. The screenplay was written by Joe Venebles and takes a deeper look into the interaction between Jesus and Pontious Pilate. The two men meet in the middle of the Easter story and Pilate 'questions' Jesus before eventually ordering his crucifixion. But, he is not necessarily convinced that Jesus is guilty of any crime.
The film looks at how this interaction might have played out; what is it that Pilate sees in this man Jesus that makes him wash his hands of his death? Why doesn't he save Jesus from crucifixion? And what is Pilate's relationship with the Religious Leaders of the day?
You can view the film for free by visiting our YouTube channel HERE!
PASSION RETOLD 2016
On Good Friday 2016 we took over Guildhall Square again to stage a different kind of Passion play. With a cast of just twelve actors and a live band on stage we retold the Easter story in a simple way. The cast played various roles throughout the performance and a crowd of approximately 4,000 people filled the square to celebrate Easter.
The production had a brand new script written by Neil and a new set of songs written, with lyrics written by Neil and music composed by Tom James. The production was followed by a gospel presentation by a local church leader and a number of people responded to the Good News.
PASSION RETOLD 2018
On Good Friday 2018 we took over Guildhall Square... yet again to stage a brand new version of the Passion Retold. This time we had a cast of just ten actors, and a new live band on stage. We retold the Easter story with a newly written script and a combination of songs from the large 2011 production and Passion Retold 2016, all reworked for this new production. Again, the cast played multiple roles as we moved through the Easter story and proclaimed the Good News of the Christian message.
Unfortunately the weather was not on our side and it rained for most of the performance but despite this, a large crowd of approximately 2,500 people gathered to celebrate this significant festival in the Christian calendar.
ONE MAN'S PASSION 2019
Having 'retold' the Easter passion story in different ways over the past few years, a new initiative was launched in 2019. The whole Easter story is told by one man, using a variety of costumes and accents and using music and song to communicate the central Christian message of Jesus' death and resurrection.
The performance lasts 30 minutes and is an ideal outreach resource. In its first year it visited a number of church events, school assemblies and was performed in the centre of Southampton by the historic Bargate. Since its first outing, it has also been performed at youth camps and made available as a filmed version, which can be viewed for free on YouTube channel HERE!
ONE MAN'S NATIVITY 2019
Following the success of the One Man's Passion at Easter, it seemed the next obvious story to try was Christmas! And that is what happened with 'One Man's Nativity' - the familiar story with all the much loved characters performed by one man. With a variety of accents and costume changes the performance was really well received with one school teacher commenting, "the nativity performance was exceptional!"
The show included lively performances of some of the songs from the original Nativity musical (2012) performed to backing tracks and was a feel-good event that was performed in a number of schools, shopping precincts and coffee shops.
ONE MAN'S MAYFLOWER 2020
2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the sailing of the Mayflower ship from the West Quay in Southampton. To mark this date, we have created a one-man show that tells the story of the Christian Pilgrims that sailed on that voyage as they went on a journey of hope and faith in search of a new land to find religious freedom.
As with our previous one-man shows, this performance includes a number of different historical characters all portrayed by one man by using a variety of costumes and accents. Again, the performance includes original songs performed to tracks and was intended to be performed across the city (unfortunately the Coronavirus pandemic meant this wasn't possible). However you can see a filmed version of it on our YouTube channel HERE!