It Has Begun Passion in Port Talbot

DRUMBEATS

PLAINTIVE SINGING

Here, on the seafront of the South Wales town of Port Talbot,

a crowd of at least 10,000 people are gathering

for an event they are unlikely to have experienced before.

The atmosphere is confused, boisterous and thoughtful.

Excited and fearful, they've all come here to witness...

..a crucifixion.

This town is about to become a stage,

and this community is about to become the cast

in perhaps the most ambitious theatrical event ever seen in Wales -

an epic staging of the story of The Passion by National Theatre Wales.

The director, lead actor and the inspiration is this man.

I'm not a Christian,

but I am someone who is fascinated by the figure of Christ.

So I'm coming at it from the point of view of someone

who is fascinated by this story,

fascinated by this figure, and trying to discover and reveal

what this means to me now

through the prism of the town that I grew up in.

Over the last few months, Michael Sheen and his team

have undertaken a huge project to collect personal stories

from every street and alley of this industrial town

and use them to transform the story of The Passion

into a story with the blood of Port Talbot running through its veins.

# You're gonna hold my body down. #

Listen to ME, now.

Now, finally, after weeks of intensive preparation,

the involvement of practically every organisation, charity and club,

and with 1,000 cast members from the town, the show is ready to begin.

So just do it with confidence.

In fact, the build-up to the play began 40 days and nights ago

when posters started appearing around the town.

A teacher from a local school had gone missing.

Then early this Good Friday morning,

the man was spotted down here on the beach.

The Passion performance began at dawn with an unadvertised and mystical sequence of events.

MAN SHOUTS

SINGING

It's now Friday afternoon, and the beach is literally teeming with people

waiting for the first official scene of the play to get underway.

Already it's getting quite buzzy.

It's quite full.

It feels authentic already.

It feels like there's something special going to happen.

A regatta or, you know, we're going to meet the Queen or something.

So, yeah, I'm terribly excited.

3 o'clock, and the audience on the beach

is estimated at well over 5,000.

It's so lovely to have something that's happening all around the town in Port Talbot.

It's just such a huge boost for the town.

Among the waiting crowd,

there's a diverse mixture of community performers.

In the play, I'm a policeman.

I've got three parts. I'm a policeman mainly, three quarters of the play.

I'm a ghost and I'm also a sleepwalker in the old people's home.

For the audience gathering on the beach,

it's already abundantly clear that this is not going to be

a traditional telling of the Easter story.

This is not a traditional Passion play, obviously.

There are no characters called Jesus and God and Judas and Mary.

It's more...

the narrative of The Passion

has been filtered through this town, through Port Talbot.

I know that the aspirations that we had from early on was to not just

make that Passion story known but to actually make it new

and to also make it relevant, hopefully to a wider audience,

but especially to people who are living here now.

So we have created a world

for these three days which is and is not Port Talbot.

Perhaps it's Port Talbot slightly in the future.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

If I could have your attention, please,

I'd like to introduce our mayor.

Finally the play begins,

with the appearance of a group of very realistic dignitaries.

Ladies and gentlemen, you have no idea how pleased I am

to see so many of you here today.

As you know, this is a big day for our town.

It's a big day for all of us. Yes...

The mayor, his cronies and what looks like the whole town

are paraded here on the beach,

waiting to welcome a senior executive from a company called ICU.

As the play reveals, ICU are a global international corporation

who, over the last five years, have taken over the entire town.

It seems that our guest has been just a little delayed,

so perhaps this would be a good time

to have one final rehearsal of our entertainment before he arrives.

-Is that a good idea, Simon?

-Yes, yes. I think so.

Ladies and gentlemen, our youth gymnastics team.

HIP-HOP MUSIC PLAYS

CHOIR SINGS

# I'm gonna let it shine

# This little light of mine

# I'm gonna let it shine

# This little light of mine

# I'm gonna let it shine Let it shine... #

At last, a flotilla of boats is spotted on the horizon.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been told

that he will be here any second.

So, ladies and gentlemen, let's remember to do ourselves proud.

Let us remember to show our gratitude.

Keep an eye on the man next to you. Stay in line.

The ICU executive lands on the beach

with his own heavily armed security unit.

Stay back! I am not joking.

..Historic occasion indeed, for how many times in our lives

are we honoured by such a distinguished guest?

A man of great generosity.

APPLAUSE

We have much to celebrate today.

Five years of working together,

five years of a unique relationship between this town and ICU.

APPLAUSE Five years... Thank you.

Five years of building on the experience of the...

SCREAMING

Stand still!

Everybody stay still.

Don't try anything.

Shoot her and I'll detonate them. I will. I'm warning you, stay back.

Nobody move. You...

This reluctant suicide bomber has been sent as a message to ICU

and the company man.

And the man with the finger on the button

launches into an angry tirade against ICU

for its exploitation of the town.

You company men have got your teeth deep in our throats,

bleeding us working men dry.

ICU? Well, I see you, all right.

I see you in that fake, false council around you.

I see you and your stories and your lies.

Hey, I told you, do anything and I'll do it. I will!

-I'm warning you, I will.

-Please!

As this volatile situation develops, down on the beach,

a lone figure has begun to make his way through the crowd.

The missing teacher has returned.

I'll do it. I will! I will. I am, I'm warning you.

-Please!

-I am, I am.

NO!

I see you.

From amongst the crowd, the teacher calls out.

I see you.

I don't understand. What's happening?

-Why are you here?

-SHE SOBS

Why are you here?

He tricked me!

He made me do it.

Who?

Him...up there.

I trusted him.

Joanne...

..do you see me?

Look at me.

Good, good, good. Give me the jacket, give me the jacket.

Take this. Take this and get it clear. Where's the locals?

Who's in charge? What's your name?

-Phillips.

-Get this people off the slip.

-Find out who that kid is.

-I need to speak to you...

As the action subsides,

and the teacher, now accompanied by Joanne, the suicide bomber,

disappears into the crowd,

the audience are beginning to put together the pieces

of what they have just witnessed.

I didn't know what was real and what was not!

She was a bit worried that the guns were real, but I said they weren't.

I thought it was really great entertainment.

-It was good, wasn't it?

-Yeah.

It's realistic, isn't it, in a way? It happened fragmented and it's a bit chaotic,

but it feels like something is actually happening and it does feel really like theatre,

but also like something real. People were starting to get a bit affected by it.

The company man, his entourage

and much of the audience have headed into the town.

It's a 45-minute walk into the Civic Centre,

and Michael, the teacher, has taken the scenic route along the river,

accompanied by Joanne and a large number of other followers

who must be wondering exactly where they are headed.

As the teacher decides to take a break and stop for a picnic,

the crowds are already gathering in the town

for the beginning of the next instalment.

A security cordon has been thrown up around Port Talbot Civic Centre,

with access denied to all but The Passion ticket holders.

There's already hundreds of faces pressed up against the heavy-duty fencing

waiting to see what will happen next.

Didn't know there was a play, like.

I've been on the beach all day and I seen some of the guns and all that, so I'm curious, like.

We've got Michael Sheen doing something in Port Talbot.

So I wondered what was going on. We've seen the snipers on the roof,

so we want to know what they're here for.

We're hoping they're don't start firing off at us.

We ain't done nothing, know what I mean? Getting a bit worried.

The next scene is billed as an important announcement from ICU,

and a public screen is already pumping out promotional material from the corporation.

Meanwhile, backstage,

the security guards - all members of a local rugby club -

are getting into character.

-Everyone's clear what they are?

-Yeah.

-Awesome.

Stay cool. If anyone tries to engage you, just ignore them, OK?

BRASS BAND PLAYS

It's 7pm, and the scene begins

as the company man takes to the podium, accompanied by the mayor.

BOOING

Hello... Oh, thank you, thank you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. I'm glad to see so many of you here this evening,

so many of you undeterred by the unfortunate events of this afternoon.

Let us be clear,

what we were all witness to was an act of pure cowardice,

an act of terror.

This is a town ready for change.

This is a town ready to embrace the bold new vision

that I place before you today with a brave new vision of the future

that we call the Passover Project.

A great new road leading this town into a glorious future.

Not surprisingly, this announcement of a new road

strikes a bitter chord in a town that had its centre bulldozed

to make way for the M4 in the late 1960s.

With this new Passover Project, the company and I will continue

looking out for your future. Thank you very much.

In fact, the company's construction plans seem to be already underway.

Families have begun to be evicted to clear a path for the new highway.

What could we do about it?

They said we had five minutes to collect our things and leave.

And what can you do in five minutes?

And they ripped off our door, our front door, and ripped it off.

Yeah, and what's going to happen to our homes?

Where are we going to go now?

Please, don't be alarmed. Please.

Clearly...

CROWD JEERS

Please!

Ladies and gentlemen, please!

I want to speak to our enemies now, the enemies of this town.

You are a cancer on this town. I know you're out there.

You will alert one of my security forces here to protect you,

and they will be only too happy to assist.

ICU! We see you!

CHAOTIC SHOUTING

GUNSHOT

-SCREAMS AND GASPS

-Get back from the fence!

Who are you?

I'm...

I am...

If you've got something to say,

then say it.

I've come to listen!

You, get back there. Who's the local police?

Get the cordon outside here. My men, back inside the cordon. Make a gap!

Move here, now! Make a gap.

Get this woman up. Get this woman up.

Make me a gap.

SCREAMING AND JEERING

Once again, the teacher vanishes,

and the ICU heavies retreat with the body of the protestor.

I thought it was quite scary, to be honest. Really scary, yeah,

cos we didn't know what was going to happen

and we didn't know who the people were or anything.

And they were coming through by us and everything and...

we didn't know what was happening, so...we were scared.

I couldn't hear a pin drop, you know, especially with the people singing over there, it was beautiful.

And everybody, well, it was as if somebody that they knew had died

and everybody was just watching it, and they were telling everybody

to leave, and they didn't want to leave, because they just...

Oh, my good God, it was their own natural reaction.

# ..Will rise again at dawn... #

For Michael and the rest of the actors,

the performance continues nonstop for three days,

and after the shooting in the Civic Centre,

the teacher and a small band of followers escape for the night

onto the hill above the town.

# ..And sleep. #

It's Saturday morning on day two of The Passion,

and central Port Talbot is filled with audience and shoppers

chatting and trying to work out what went on yesterday.

It gave us goose pimples watching it.

It's quite awesome to see what was going on, you know. We didn't know what to expect.

We're afraid to miss anything, aren't we?

By midday, the centre of the mall is packed.

Nobody's quite sure what's going to happen.

There are a few odd faces amongst the crowd.

As well as a heavy security presence.

Suddenly, the day's events kick off with an unexpected outburst.

Resistance! United! We'll never be defeated!

LOUD CHANTING

Resistance! United! We'll never be defeated!

Resistance! United! We'll never be defeated!

ICU, we see you! ICU...

Frustrated by the demonstrators,

the security forces clear the audience from the building.

Once evacuated from the shopping centre,

they are guided to the next scene in nearby Llewellyn Street,

a road that was literally chopped in half by the M4 overpass

and that has given The Passion the inspiration for ICU's so-called Passover Project.

Here, below the motorway,

the audience enters a world of stories and memories of the past,

voices from the margins of Port Talbot society.

It's the teacher who welcomes the audience into the street

and he then approaches a young girl in the crowd.

I see you.

Come forward, come here.

Chloe is one of the many local people

whose personal stories have found expression in the play.

Hello, there.

GIRL MAKES SING-SONG SOUNDS AND THEY REPEAT THEM BACK TO HER

-Who's this?

-This is Chloe. I'm afraid she can't speak,

at least not in a way you'd understand.

Although she cannot talk

and has to cope with some profound disabilities,

Chloe has her own vibrant method of communicating,

using sounds and movements.

-THEY CLAP

-Ready?

-Ready?

In Llewellyn Street, her unique language is transformed into dance and music.

ALL: Ready?

Ready?

PERCUSSION

Chloe...

I need to ask you a favour.

-GIRL'S VOICE:

-Ask me anything.

-I need to borrow your father.

I'm going on a journey, just for a day or so.

Where are you going?

I don't know yet...

but I think someone's gonna show me the way.

And when they do?

I'll follow it.

But I don't want to follow it alone

or in silence.

That's why I need your father.

Will you let him come?

Yes.

He will lead your dance, he will come.

APPLAUSE

Can you see me?

Can you see me?

Anyone see me?

I used to be over there,

but now I'm here.

Sometimes I'm both.

This is Alfie, a figure based on a well-known local character.

As the teacher disappears,

Alfie draws the audience back to the time

when the street still had two sides.

Used to be a street over there,

spit of this one, it was, like looking in a mirror.

All gone now, of course.

The '60s,

that's when it arrived,

the monstrosity.

Came clodhopping in with its big, stone legs and parked itself over there,

not so much as a by-your-leave, thank you very much.

You can't go anywhere in this town without it looking at you, watching you.

Alfie can still see the ghosts of his old neighbours

haunting the pillars.

When the bulldozers came, we had to go live down the estate.

Not the same. But there you are.

From the minute those houses came down, I haven't had a proper night's sleep since, not one.

My mother said she used to find me walking all over the place all night long, all over.

Trying to find my way back.

And then years later, I found my way back. Well, you know me - nothing if not dogged.

I live by here now...on this side.

I thought once I got back, I might get to sleep, but no.

Well, I can see THEM, can't I?

I stand up at the window all night, like, watching 'em on the other side over there.

All sorts going on. Well, you can't sleep with all that carrying on.

I stand up at the window

watching them.

Look...look now.

Do you see?

Do you see us?

-Can you hear me?

-Can you hear us?

-Do you see me?

-ALL:

-Look for us, look for us.

I'm not ashamed to say I cried when I seen the scene.

-I think it was done beautifully.

-Very nice, yes.

I think, when I seen the people there,

I could imagine that could be your grandparents.

Being there and...I don't know,

saying what those people were saying.

-Like...

-The feelings was there when the houses go down.

-Yeah, the feelings, the houses went down.

# There's a shadow hanging over us... #

Over the day, there have been other scenes in the town centre,

but the highlight of the Passion Saturday

is the evening's much-advertised Last Supper party

in the Seaside Social Club on Port Talbot's vast Sandfields estate.

# Those who may depart I'm sure they must be broken-hearted

# Hey! #

Welcome to the Seaside Social Club, and to those of you outside,

a big shout to our visitors, come from all over the world to see this.

# There are no secrets in this small town

# Nothing that's yours... #

The musical line-up is meant to be a secret,

but word has leaked out, and a huge crowd is gathering in the car park

to watch the next stage of the Passion story unfold.

Well, something like this, us coming together,

brings a closeness, and there's no violence, there's no attitude.

It's lovely, and we need more of it, I think.

Something for the community, and we all agree, we're all just saying,

-that's why we all get together, like, innit, to be part of the town.

-Yeah.

-It's good, like.

# You may leave but you never get out... #

It's going fantastically well. I think if you could cast

an audience, Port Talbot is the place to cast your audience.

It's like someone's flicked a switch in the town, and they're so...

into it and they're clapping along to the resistance chants.

We're managing the crowds. It's taken us by surprise,

but they're all really respectful, and it's like...

There was a fantastic tweet today from Lyn Gardner, critic of the Guardian, who said,

"Talk about the transformative power of art."

Port Talbot is not the place it was yesterday and not the place it will be tomorrow,

and I'm thrilled - it's been an amazing couple of days.

For the lucky members of the audience who managed to get tickets,

there's a huge spread of sandwiches, pies and cold food.

Tonight has become a rallying point for the growing resistance to ICU.

And the teacher and his followers,

the disciple-like figures he has collected over the last two days,

receive a warm welcome as they arrive.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

This man, Peter, is a regular at the club.

This is fantastic to see it so full of life again, like.

Oh, it means a lot to me, it does, to have you here with me in my club on this last night.

Swansea DJ Kev Jones is MC for the night.

It's so great to see so many of you here tonight. Such was the demand

for tickets, not everybody could get in, so everybody outside...

just like to say hello everybody outside there in the cheap seats.

Can we have a big cheer for everybody in the cheap seats?

CHEERING

Ah, great, man, great!

Well, it's time to start the show.

Are you ready for show time, everyone?

CHEERING Hey, look at everyone.

Anyway, this young man, he's absolutely fantastic, so best of order now, please,

best of order, everyone. Please give a warm welcome as he plays the Seaside Social Club

for the very first... and the very last time as well.

Let's here it for Iwan Rheon. Let's give him a big round of applause.

WHOOPING

# Well, it took me from the life I know

# They'll ring church bells We're going

# Dragging her precious soul

# Oh...the cobbled streets where I met my love... #

Next up is local hero and winner of Britain's Got Talent,

singer Paul Potts.

# ..Sogno d'or

# Questo vuole il cuor

# Triste senz'amor. #

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE Thank you very much.

In the interval, the teacher offers his friends some sandwiches.

ROOM QUIETENS TO SILENCE

Eat, eat.

I just wanted to say a few words.

I wanted to say thank you, really,

for being here with me tonight.

This is a special night,

and I'm glad we could share it together.

I can't believe I've met you all just since yesterday morning,

so much has happened already.

And I just want to say that, er...

even if...

even if for some reason...

we just have tonight, even if...

..we can't be together again after tonight...

..here we are, eating food together, drinking together.

And it feels good, doesn't it?

It feels good.

You know, yesterday...

..we were many.

Today...

..we are one.

To us.

-ALL:

-To us.

Ladies and gentlemen, let's hear it for the house band!

CHEERING

Top of the bill tonight are the Valleys band -

and international superstars - the Manic Street Preachers.

# Do not go so gentle

# Do not go so gentle on this night

# One last chance

# To open up your hearts and your minds

# Who will bring prosperity?

# Pierce skies with hypocrisy

# It's up to us We shall defend

# Just to prove that this is not the end

# A design for life

# A design for life

# A design for life

# A design for. #

Yeah! Whoo!

Suddenly, the entertainment is brought to an abrupt end.

BOOING

The Manics are taken away by the security forces.

BOOING AND JEERING

As the gang head out into the dark,

the teacher realises that his hour has come.

The small close of houses outside the club

has become Port Talbot's Garden of Gethsemane -

a place of fear and doubt.

CHEERING

While his companions doze off waiting for a night bus,

the teacher is consumed with terror at the path he has chosen.

MAN: Is that you, son?

A godlike figure appears up on high, working on the scaffolding.

Dad?

Hello, son. You're out late.

So are you.

Well, you know me...

always working.

Do you see me?

Course I see you, son. I can see the whole town from up here.

You should come up here sometimes, it's beautiful.

Hey, there is a piece of slate down there, son?

A piece of slate?

Yes, yes, it fell just now.

Somewhere over there.

It's broken.

Yeah...

Yes, I thought it might be. All right then, never mind. Pass it up, son.

Do I have to?

Yes, I'm...

I'm afraid you do, son.

Son?

Yes, Dad?

Pick up the slate, son.

Pick it up now.

Thank you, son.

SIREN WAILS

Going on a journey, are you?

Yes, I think so,

going on a journey.

Well, I hope you've got everything you need.

Maybe. I don't know.

It's important to be ready, son.

Remember that.

Yes.

-JEERING

-Thanks, Dad.

ANGRY SHOUTING

In a kangaroo court in front of the crowd,

the ICU security chief taunts the teacher.

So you pulled your little stunt on the beach,

and now everybody looks up to you.

WILD CHEERING

Leading people is a responsibility.

Are you ready for this?

Are you ready to lead these people?

CHEERING

-Because that is what they're saying...

-MAN: Nazi!

..that you are going to lead them, you are going to change things,

you are going to make everything better, that's what they're saying.

Are you the king of these people?

CHEERING

Are you ready, son?

Just remember,

what's one slate to a whole house, eh?

Small sacrifice.

It is true, isn't it?

You ARE their leader, you are the king of this town?

That's what you've been saying!

That's what you've been telling THEM.

Tell ME!

Tell ME! SAY it!

I AM!

CROWING

Take him!

BOOING AND SHOUTING

I mean, we know where it's going. We're really rooting for him, the resistance -

it's really base instinct, I suppose, that anti-establishment feeling.

I found that bit when Michael Sheen was on the skip, I found it really emotional.

I've never seen anything like it before. Really wonderful.

-Probably never see anything like it again.

-Fantastic for the town as well, isn't it? Yeah.

Go back to the comfort of your homes.

Go back to your homes.

It's Easter Sunday, and the streets of Port Talbot are heaving.

Newspapers around the world are printing pictures of this unique event.

And people have travelled here from all over the UK and abroad

to witness the last day of The Passion.

As two prisoners are led out of the police station,

a public trial is being prepared in the Civic Centre.

We're about to have the trial scene.

This is, I guess, our equivalent of the scene

from the Gospels where Pilate presents a choice to the people.

They can either free Jesus or they can free this insurgent.

So the company man, in an attempt at transparency

and an attempt at quashing rumours,

is going to have a very public trial.

That is when the die is cast.

I think that that sense of sort of getting behind the teacher,

that sense of injustice, will grow and will grow,

and especially what happens as a result of this trial,

there'll be the awful realisation that the end that everyone knows

is almost here.

When I spoke to you here two days ago,

I warned you that the enemies of progress were still working among us.

Sadly, as we have all witnessed over the last two days,

those same enemies have taken advantage

of what is a delicate time of transition for the town

and used it to spread their hatred and malice for our way of life.

And I would like to take this opportunity to thank our wonderful security forces

for all the good job they're doing...

BOOING

..and the courage they are showing in such difficult circumstances.

Thank you, thank you very much.

BOOING

Standing before you today are two of the selfsame enemies.

One, a would-be assassin and terrorist

who thinks nothing of killing his own kind to achieve his aims.

The other...

CHEERING

..a man who would tear down the very fabric of our society

and is an affront to everything we hold dear.

Well, today, I AM going to give you a choice,

because at the end of today's trial, one of these two men will go free,

and the choice as to which man goes free...

..will be yours.

-Save the teacher!

-Teacher!

-Teacher!

-Save the teacher!

Name!

It's Barry, Barry Absalom.

Were you the bomber behind the assassination attempt on Friday?

Yes, I was.

Name.

I don't know.

They call you the teacher.

If you say so.

You have been charged with leading an ideological revolt

against the council and the company,

and of planning insurrectionist activities. Is this true?

If you say it is.

Let's play this by your rules, shall we?

I want to give this town a choice, but not by a vote.

Everyone knows a vote can be rigged - and that's what you'd say, isn't it, that I loaded the crowd?

So how would you do this?

Maybe by giving the vote to just one person,

just one innocent person.

The one innocent person they choose is a small girl from the crowd.

The company man plays out a charade of questioning the child.

-And what is your name?

-Katie.

-Katie.

But the outcome has already been decided.

The verdict has been delivered,

and it is a good verdict.

DISCONTENTED MURMURS

Free him.

This other one, make an example of him. He's yours.

Out the way. Out the way.

-Watch yourselves.

-Move! Move!

-Move! Out the way.

-Move it.

Move! Out the way.

HAUNTING MUSIC

HE GASPS FOR AIR

Open up, open up.

Get ahead of me, get that gate open.

Who's got him? Who's got him? Who's got him?

Out of the way!

I was really moved by it, actually.

It was quite upsetting.

It's quite realistic, isn't it?

I feel a bit weird now. But after everything that happened last night in the garden,

these are quite haunting images.

Absolutely moving to have it shown in such clarity, about violence and things,

and how it might have been when it was back in the Biblical times for Jesus.

It does make people think about everything, you know, what he's said over the weekend, definitely.

I think people have forgot about the way Port Talbot was.

This town's... Well, this is a beautiful spot

and a fantastic area which the industry,

which has been brought in here by first of all the Talbots, I guess,

and ongoing ever since, and they keep on dumping all this pollution on us, which we don't want.

From this point on,

the story of The Passion begins to play out its final, inevitable chapter.

Thousands of people are beginning to line the streets

to witness a great procession.

We didn't realise it's going to be a parade here, so we just joined in. It's really exciting.

Hopefully we'll watch all of it - about eight, nine o'clock, is it?

DRUMBEATS

Everybody's getting quite excited,

because you can hear the music from the other side.

I'm just anticipating the scene when it comes.

SINGING

The grim march snakes its way along the main street

and on towards the shopping centre.

But here, the procession takes a pause.

BELLS RING SOFTLY

Inside, the mall has been transformed.

The teacher is relieved of his burden

and gently ministered to by a group of women, including his mother.

BELLS STOP AND SOFT HARP BEGINS

As the procession gets underway again,

the mood of the crowd seems to have lifted.

WOMEN: # Hold my body down You're gonna hold my... #

Along the backstreets of the town,

there are residents waiting patiently all afternoon for their chance to be part of the event.

# Hold my body down You're gonna hold my body down

# You're gonna hold my body down

# You're gonna hold my body down

# Gonna hear that trumpet sound

# I'm gonna get up outta this ground... #

There's quite a lot of people here, aren't there?

It's been pretty hectic today, and thousands are joining us

on the procession, which we weren't expecting necessarily so much.

We thought people would line the streets but not join us

for the whole procession, so it's been tremendous.

We've been waiting here a couple of hours this afternoon for him to come through on this route,

and I must say it's quite powerful.

I just think it was really sort of, like...sort of, like, you know...

quite choking. I was really quite emotional, really.

# Let there be peace on Earth

# And let it begin with me

# Let there be peace on Earth

# And let it begin with me

# Let there be peace on Earth... #

DRUMMING

I just feel that in walking and following the procession, in walking, we're talking,

and I've seen people that I haven't seen for years,

so this, to me, has pulled the whole Passion story together.

It's one of community and being one.

Despite the barbaric ordeal that Sheen is portraying,

the procession has turned into an extraordinary celebration for the whole community.

All along the route,

people are carrying, wearing and displaying images and objects

that evoke their own private memories of the town.

I wanted to be part of the atmosphere and enjoy the town as it is today.

And this is how it was

when everyone...every member of the town went to church or chapel,

and Sunday was a very quiet day!

It's nearly nine in the evening, and the procession has finally turned onto the seafront

and is slowly making its way along the last stretch.

Oh, it's a wonderful parade, isn't it? It's very emotional, I think, very deeply emotional.

You see people crying on the way down.

So touching, so touching.

And what it's brought to Port Talbot today, you know, it's flushed everybody out.

The people of Port Talbot is out to watch this today.

It's brought a lot of emotion to the community.

This is a very religious town, Port Talbot, very Catholic town,

and, erm...picked a good subject.

It's nice to see a man of Michael Sheen's stature bringing something

back to Port Talbot, bringing it back to the community,

putting a spotlight on the place where he came from.

I, myself, couldn't go down to watch the crucifixion.

I think it'd be a bit too moving.

SLOW DRUMBEATS

The teacher's Calvary, his final destination,

is a grassy roundabout down on the seafront

close to where the whole story began three days ago.

The scale of the audience for this final scene -

anywhere between 10,000 and 12,000 people -

has exceeded all expectations.

SOMBRE MUSIC

HE CRIES OUT

-HAMMERING

-Argh!

-Three!

-Ah!

Argh...!

Argh...!

HE CONTINUES TO SCREAM

HE SINGS MOURNFULLY

On the verge of death,

the teacher's memory returns,

and he cries out a litany of memories of the town,

memories actually collected from the people of Port Talbot.

I remember...

I remember this place.

I remember...

..Beach Hill!

Number nine...

I remember the guys.

I remember nights at the Starlight...

CHEERING

..bands at the Troubadour...

CHEERING

I remember the Carlton, and Pharaohs and Wall Street.

I remember the smell and the taste of blackberries

in the summer from Baglan Mountain.

CHEERING

I remember donkey rides on the beach.

CHEERING

CROWD FALLS SILENT

WHISTLING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

CHOIR SINGS SOFTLY

APPLAUSE

Out of the gloom, the figure of the stranger emerges one last time.

(WAVERINGLY) # And sleep

# And sleep

# And sleep

(VOICE BREAKING) # And sleep. #

SLOW DRUMBEATS

It is finished.

It has begun!

CHEERING

Everyone was open mouthed, especially when the music started coming on, and he started saying

the little jokes, all the personal things about Port Talbot, everyone was just really, like, enjoying it.

And then when the music started, and you could see that he was becoming more frail,

everyone was open mouthed and in awe of what was going on.

It's just amazing. There's no words, really,

that can express how we all felt,

but you could feel it in the atmosphere.

It's better than winning the lottery, to be here tonight,

to be a part of all this.

The town is an absolutely brilliant town.

It's had a bit of a hard time,

but now what has happened here today brought them all together.

Absolutely outstanding.

The following evening, the whole company have a final get-together.

Well, what a three days it was, eh?

-CHEERING

-It was...

I think I can say without any qualification at all,

it was the most extraordinary three days of my life.

CHEERING

This was your Passion, it was our Passion,

and we made this happen together,

and nobody has ever done that before.

There have been performances and productions of things but never,

I think, has an entire town come together to tell the story of itself to itself

to be witnessed by the world.

What happened was that we became more than ourselves.

We became something much bigger.

And great things can be achieved.

That's what community is about and that's what this was all about.

-MAN: Well done, Michael!

-So...thank you very much.

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