Easter Passion play features Scots characters

The play starred Duncan Rennie and featured community actors from all walks of life

Actors performing the annual Easter story in Edinburgh this weekend have delivered their lines in Scots.

Characters, including John the Baptist, adopted the language for one of the biggest community theatre productions in the city this year.

The traditional Passion play was also narrated by a woman - Mary, the mother of Jesus - for the first time.

The performance took place in Princes Street Gardens on Saturday afternoon.

Director Suzanne Lofthus said the crew was always looking for new ways to tell the Easter story that enabled more people to connect with it.

'Mother tongue'

Speaking ahead of the performance, she said: "Having a woman's take on the story brings a fresh perspective. Because of how things were in the society of the time, women aren't mentioned very much in traditional presentations of the story, but they were there and witnessed everything."

Organisers said it was important for people to know the Bible was full of ordinary men and women

She added: "People might be a bit surprised at first when they hear John the Baptist speaking in the mother tongue, but we want to communicate the fact that the people in the Bible story were ordinary men and women, just like us."

The play, staged this year by a cast of nearly 40 people, was supported by a professional director, stage manager and professional actor Duncan Rennie, who starred as Jesus.

Cast members ranged in age from students to retired people, and came from all walks of life, said the organisers.

The performance was free and un-ticketed.