Mysterium: A Drama in Two Acts

MYSTERIUM is a powerful dramatic retelling of the historical events surrounding the trial and public burning of Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop of the Anglican Church. The action of the play is set in England in 553 A.D. as Mary ascends to the English throne after the untimely death of King Edward, which places the Archbishop in direct conflict with the new Catholic queen. Arrested and tried first for treason and then for heresy, Thomas Cranmer endures the machinations of an English monarch and her politicized Papal Legate who conspire to make an example out of the de facto leader of the English Reformation. Buffeted by the brutality of the queen's inquisitors and torn by his own self-doubts, Cranmer eventually discovers the truth of his own calling and stands boldly in his final hours to give testimony to the goodness of God and the glory of Christ in his Church.