A CEMETERY in the North-East has played host to an evocative Easter performance.

The Houghton-Le-Spring Passion Play was performed in the Houghton Hillside Cemetery today (Good Friday).

The play was set in modern times in a CNN news reporting style using music composed by parishioner Stuart Clappison and performed in the open air.

The audience became the crowd as the story of Jesus Christ’s arrest, trial and execution was brought to life by local actors who weaved through the cemetery depicting the Stations of the Cross.

The Rector of Houghton, Reverend Canon Sue Pinnington, said: “People were incredibly moved and it was almost as if in some strange way that the dark and sombre day added and heightened the tension of the story being told.

“We were committed to doing it outside. There were about 150 people there. “Some people brought umbrellas and in that typically British fashion just got on with it.”

This year, a trainee priest, John Vilaseca Bruch, played the part of Jesus.

Rev Pinnington added: “The actor who played Christ was superb and he really brought something very special to the portrayal.

“It truly brought out the nature of the suffering that Christ must have gone through.”