Actor
James Burke-Dunsmore, who plays the role of Jesus in “Christ in the
Centre” – came face to face with his own image when artist Eli Agayev
presented him with a dramatic picture he painted of last year’s event.
Eli,
a former Azerbaijani policeman who is seeking asylum in
Britain
, painted the picture after seeing photos of the event on the internet: “I
wanted to depict Christ’s suffering and the beatings he endured to make
people think about how hard it must have been for God to see his son treated
like that”.
James – who combines his acting career with being an artist – was
impressed with the fact that Eli has no formal artistic training and only
started painting 15 months ago. He also congratulated him for capturing one of
the key moments of the event:
“This is a very emotional part of the production. When I am on my
knees I can hear all sort of reactions from the people around me – some
shouts of anger, fear and hatred, but also people crying”.
Eli presented the picture to James at a special open rehearsal for this
year’s event held on Saturday (19th January), at which a number
of new recruits joined the core cast, which is drawn from the SWORD Christian
Drama Group, based at St Wilfred’s Church, Kibworth, where the picture will
now be displayed.
SWORD artistic director, Louisa Feltham, is encouraged by the start made
on the day, and by the number of talented actors and actresses recruited for
the cast:
“We made a really positive start to preparing the drama, with the new
members of the cast making a real impression. There is still time for other
people to get involved, whether in the cast or in the huge range of
‘back-stage’ jobs that need to be completed to make the production
work”.
This
year’s production will be staged on Good Friday 21st March, and
will start at the Castle Yard (10.15am start) with a dramatic recreation of
one of John Wesley’s sermons delivered at this site; before moving to Town
Hall Square (11am), and to Humberstone Gate (11.45am). The event is due to
conclude at 1.30pm. All timings are approximate and may be subject to change.
