A PASSION play brought the Easter story up-to-date for Keighley shoppers.

Jesus Christ wore an orange prison jumpsuit and was arrested by a beat bobby in the Good Friday presentation in the Airedale Shopping Centre.

Keighley Churches Together used modern-day music and visuals to give added relevance to the 2,000-year-old story of Jesus’s death and resurrection.

More than 200 people from local churches gathered to watch the presentation and join in with songs.

Passion plays have been performed for hundreds of years in England, most famously in York, to portray the Easter story from the Bible.

For several years local churchgoers have presented a traditional version of the Easter story in Keighley town centre on Good Friday.

The Rev Dr Jonathan Pritchard, one of the organisers, said this year they decided to put together something a little different.

He and Rebecka Cotterill narrated the traditional Christian story of Jesus going to Jerusalem, standing trial and being crucified, then a few days later returning to life.

This was accompanied by striking imagery, including an actor playing Jesus in a Guantánamo Bay jumpsuit and holding a wooden cross.

Contemporary songs recognisable to the general public included theme tunes from TV shows Happy Valley and House Of Cards and the songs Paradise by Coldplay and Imagine by John Lennon.

Rebecka said: “The idea was to do the old story in a new way which connects to people in the modern world.”

The Rev Pritchard, from All Saints Church in Highfield, said: “The connections of the gospel story resonate in our world, and in any community.

“This was about celebrating the gospel story that unites all the churches in Keighley, and sharing it in the middle of Keighley’s life and business.”