It was the York Dungeon’s 40th birthday today, and to celebrate the Lord Mayor and the Town Crier were joined by some VOPs (Very Orrible People).
As soon as Lord Mayor Cllr Margaret Wells chopped the ribbon with an axe, Dick Turpin and a bunch of other reprobates from the city’s past burst onto the scene.
But it wouldn’t be York Dungeon without a few wrong ’uns roaming around…
The big day was proclaimed this morning (Friday) by York Town Crier Ben Fry. Then Cllr Wells told the throng how she’d had a near-death experience when the Dungeon first opened in 1986.
“I was walking through town. It was busy – it always is,” she said. “Then I saw a bearded figure striding purposely towards me, wearing a brown gown and carrying a scythe.
“Nobody batted an eyelid. It was as though nobody else had seen him. But there he was coming towards me.
“My heart started racing. My knees went weak and I moved towards the wall for support. My life passed by me so quickly.
“I thought, ‘oh goodness – it isn’t an old wives tale, the Grim Reaper really does come for you! And it’s not an angel, so I know where I’m heading…’
“Needless to say, he went striding past. I turned to watch, and luckily he didn’t take anybody into the depths of hell. He hurried down Castlegate – I think, like me, he was late for work.”
That was her first encounter with a York Dungeon actor!
Now the attraction on Clifford Street is planning for the future. And Olivia Mortimer, performance manager at the dungeon, revealed a new show coming soon…
“We are doing, for the first time ever in 40 years, a live Guy Fawkes show,” she told YorkMix. “So we will have a Guy Fawkes and you’ll be able to come and meet the man himself.
“We’ve had Guy Fawkes projections and mannequins, things like that over the years, but this will be the first time we’ll have had a live actor portraying Guy.
“It’s going to be very stripped back, very raw. It’s a real storytelling show.
“So it is the night before Guy Fawkes’ execution. You’re going to hear about a lot of the history, where Guy ended up the night before his execution, his own thoughts on who perhaps was behind the anonymous letter, for example.
“I don’t want to reveal too much, but there’s a few spins along the way.”
The Guy Fawkes show will launch at York Dungeon this summer.
