HERDING 150 cast and crew along with throngs of spectators and a roving busker along village streets, down tapered paths, via a community centre before gathering at the parish church, has logistical disaster written all over it.

But the Wroughton Passion Play kicked off without a hitch from the Ellendune Centre yesterday to the sound of All You Need is Love performed by the production’s Super Choir.

Amid the din of chatter and music, actors set the scene clad in colourful sashes and costumes. Cast, crew and spectators then headed towards St Joseph’s Church, along Moat Walk before stopping outside The White Hart and then slowly marching up the hill for the finale at Wroughton Parish Church.

As the Saviour's ordeal became worse, the cast’s bright ethnic robes began to gradually drain of colour

Squeezing such a large cast into a small church hall for rehearsals posed a few logistical problems said the play's producer Laura Barnes.

But she added: “Theatre people make anything happen. We’re yes people, we always find a way to adapt.”

The production is partly funded by the Bible Society, Wroughton Church and through crowdfunding.

Director Anna Friend said: “We had five locations and we had to get a moving road closure, the police were involved.

“We had to be in each location for about 20 minutes but the performance doesn’t ever stop so everybody had to stay in character.

"There were also musicians at different points and a busker, Tim Shakespeare, following us around."

Laura who is artistic director of Gatecrash Theatre, was the mastermind behind The Passion Play after the seed of the idea had been planted by Wroughton Parish Church’s Canon Michael Johnson who broached the idea at her grandfather’s funeral.

“He picked an interesting time,” said Laura. “He is really forward thinking. The geography of the town lends itself well to a passion play with the church at the top of the hill. I thought, if we’re going to do it, we have to do it properly and professionally, it has to be something dynamic and amazing.”

She approached Anna to develop and direct the piece who says her immediate response was: "Yes, let's work out the details later."

The only minor issue was that neither of them had been raised in the Christian faith and their knowledge of the Easter story was minimal

But they harnessed their ignorance, using it as a fresh prism through which to present the story of Jesus’s trial and crucifixion.

" We decided to approach it as story tellers," said Anna. "We didn’t over-research it but we used some of the cast members who have faith as a mine of information. It was very organic.”

“It was very immersive,” said Laura, who until recently worked as education and outreach leader at Sixth Sense Theatre.