RIDING LIGHTS THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS:
RIDING LIGHTS THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS
FEARLESS STORYTELLING, FURIOUS COMEDY
‘I have come to give you the power of speech. And this tongue of yours will slash like a sword. It is only with laughter that the rulers will be destroyed…’
Two wild strangers roll into York for the 2026 Mystery Play Fringe, and the tales they tell are about to turn the city upside down.
Join Riding Lights Theatre Company for a new production of Dario Fo’s explosive satire, Mistero Buffo in a year which celebrates 100 years since Fo’s birth. With ferocious wit and fearless physical storytelling, this production tears into faith, power, profit and hypocrisy by turning ancient Bible stories into urgent, laugh-out-loud theatre with a clear spiritual heart.
Written by Nobel prize-winning playwright Dario Fo, this hilarious take on the Mystery Plays is the perfect fringe choice for those who like their comedy with a bit of bite.
Sharp, subversive and unapologetically now.
York-based actor Thomas Frere, and Cathy Sara will both make their debut with Riding Lights Theatre Company, playing an array of comedic characters in this exciting two-hander of Mistero Buffo.
Thomas has been acting, directing and playing music for more than 35 years and is probably most known in the north for his work with North Country Theatre where he was associate director and performed in many shows including the now very successful Thirty-Nine Steps, in which he created the part of Hannay.
Elsewhere, he has performed in rep theatres in Lancaster, Harrogate, Bolton, Leeds, York, Exeter, Newbury, Southampton and Liverpool, plus numerous tours from rock’n’roll musicals (Return to the Forbidden Planet) to Shakespeare. Favourite roles include Jesus in The Passion, Dromio in The Comedy of Errors, Aguecheek in Twelfth Night, Smeaton in The Seduction of Anne Boleyn and Henry Senior in The Sand House.
He has appeared on TV in, amongst others, Emmerdale, The Royal, Gentleman Jack and Coronation Street. More recently Thomas appeared in Switcheroo at York Theatre Royal and on tour which played to packed houses and is currently in the planning stages for another tour in 2027.
Cathy trained at Webber Douglas, and has enjoyed many roles in Theatre (including Cordelia in King Lear (Hackney Empire), Cathy/Nelly Dean in Wuthering Heights (Leeds Playhouse) and Stiffy Byng in By Jeeves (Stephen Joseph Theatre & West End).
Her TV credits include Downton Abbey, Kavanagh QC, Emmerdale, Breathless and film highlights Topsy-Turvy and The Woman in Black. Cathy won the BBC Radio Carleton Hobbs Award. Her extensive audio work includes regular role Phyllida in Rumpole of the Bailey and The Archers.
In recent years Cathy set up Kairos Arts - a charity using the arts therapeutically to nurture emotional health and restore hope.
Director Paul Birch says:
“When we turn on the news we’re swamped with stories of rich and powerful people doing terrible things. Whether it’s the Middle East, or Ukraine or Epstein, we are being confronted by injustice and a world which seems rotten to its core. It is easy to feel powerless and overwhelmed. Mistero Buffo is a savage satire which uses comedy and storytelling to attack ‘the rulers of the land’. It takes its inspiration from the medieval mystery plays in which the local community are able to play out, through adaptations of biblical stories, both their rage and their hope. It follows York’s own mystery play tradition of finding how these ancient stories can be retold and usefully speak to us now. Mistero Buffo has a lot to say and does so in the funniest and most subversive of ways.”
Performance Dates
Saturday 27 June 7.30PM
Sat 28 June 7.30pm
Wednesday 01 July 7.30pm
Thursday 02 July 7.30pm
Friday 03 July 2.30pm
Friday 03 July 7.30pm
Saturday 04 July 2.30pm
Saturday 04 July 7.30pm