What the Way of the Cross is
For 150 years Easter in Bendigo has been marked with events through the city. For at least 15 of those years, Christian churches presented a collaborative outdoor play called The Way of the Cross: the last supper, the arrest, the trial, the crucifixion, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
It is a retelling of the Christian faith, with drama, music, and lighting, performed on Good Friday evening. It grew into a cherished part of Bendigo's Easter. Support later fell away, and the production was not staged for several years, until 2022.
The Bendigo Easter Festival asked for the historic production to return as part of its 150th anniversary celebrations in 2020. An inter-church committee formed to recreate the script with care for a modern audience. COVID delayed the festival, and the production, for two years. In 2022 it returned. Vern Wall directed that year. Julie Lovell directed 2023, 2024, and 2025. In 2025 the crowd in Rosalind Park was estimated at over 2,500 people.
The aim is to bring the Easter story to life, and to ask the audience to look again at the authority and divinity of Jesus.
On Good Friday 3 April 2026 the production was staged again in Rosalind Park. The Bendigo Advertiser reported more than a thousand people there, with Beyers Erasmus in the role of Jesus. A full 2026 cast list has not yet been published on this site.
Committee, 2026
As published by the production. The publicity role is not currently filled on that list.
Cast, 2025
Director: Julie Lovell. Jesus: Laurence Breuls.