"As well a delivering their powerful Christian messages in a dramatic and entertaining manner, they also help to capture a snapshot of what life was like back in the 14th century. At that time all church services were conducted in Latin by the learned men of ‘the cloth’, which left the great unwashed a little left out and excluded.
It was the monks at the Abbey of St Werburgh (now Chester Cathedral) who had the bright idea of enacting stories from the Bible to help those who couldn't otherwise follow or understand. This proved such a crowd pleaser that they were soon packing them in, so much so that eventually this proved too disruptive and the plays had to be moved outside the abbey, at which time the individual companies of Chester Guilds adopted them"
This is according to historic-uk.com. This website includes a link to another site where you can buy tickets to a showing of the Chester Mystery Plays. The last performance of the cycle was in 2008, and this same group is planning another showing for 2013. This has become a much anticipated event in Britain.
The Mystery Plays have also been performed in Canada as seen here in this brief article about the International Medieval Drama Festival and Conference
Other works cited:
"Chester Mystery Plays." Historic UK - Heritage Accommodation in Castles,cottages,hotels,bed and Breakfast,boats,dream Weddings, Living History and History Magazine. Web. 08 Dec. 2010. <http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/ChesterMysteryPlays.htm>.
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