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The News from the World was inspired by the mystery plays which were performed by the citizens of towns and cities throughout medieval England. The central aim of these performances was to tell of man's salvation through Christ and to do so they drew on Biblical events from both the Old and New Testaments; but they were also festive occasions performed by and for the community in an up-to-date manner and so a host of invented characters and scenes were created to give ample opportunities to the various acting groups to display their talents and to bring the story home to everyone's door.
The first scene is about the Creation; we see the human race coming into existence but Lucifer and the devils tempt their successors away from their blissful state into a grotesque TV game show in which the fortune at stake is the destiny of mankind. Meanwhile the angels have transformed themselves into alluring cheerleaders. They recreate the building of Manhattan but the devils transform themselves into scientists and invent the bomb which destroys everything. But when all is doom and gloom a star appears and the rest, as they say, is history.
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