48 Hours in Jerusalem is a brand new original piece of music by Andrew Clayton, reimagining the experience of Jesus’ disciples in the period between the crucifixion and the resurrection, and performed for the first time at St Matthew’s, Walsall, on Easter Saturday 2025.
Andrew writes: “How we tell the story of Easter is dependent on some key factors – including both the audience and the angle. Do the people hearing the message have experience of church and Christianity? If so, can the story be presented with a new take to offer insight and reflection?
48 Hours in Jerusalem is a fresh look at the Easter story from the point of view of the ensemble cast of disciples and followers who witness Jesus’ execution, and don’t understand what’s coming next. Unable to trust anyone in the city, they retreat to a room somewhere Jerusalem and bar the door.
Using a small grant from St Peter’s Saltley Trust to fund development costs and time, Andrew Clayton wrote 10 original songs and a short script to carry an audience of church-going Christians through the Easter story from the human perspective. Peter, John, James and Simon express differing reactions to Jesus’ death through solo songs. Mary Magdalene unpacks the unfamiliar freedom Jesus has given her. The Chorus join in by turn with rosy-hued reminiscence and flag-waving revolution.
Underpinning the entire production is a desire to explore the nature of Jesus by examining how he would have left a void in the lives of his followers. In 48 hours’ time, his resurrection will rock their lives once more. Understanding the pause between these two events gives the audience an opportunity to walk with the followers of Jesus in their grief. It is a time of pause and lament in a holy season; treading the watershed between desolation and rejoicing.
The next steps of this project are to record the songs with the original cast, to publish the material, and to promote it to other communities in time for Easter 2026″.
Photo credit: Peter Ford, www.fordography.com