A large audience is expected for a Passion play in St George’s on Good Friday.

June-Ann Furbert, the play’s director, said some locations for Jesus’ Walk To Calvary had to be changed to accommodate the hundreds of people expected for the annual show.

Ms Furbert said the repeat actors had grown into their roles over the years.

Quinton Burch, who will play Peter, who denied Jesus, said he hoped his role would allow people to examine their relationship with Christ.

Mr Burch said: “It’s a part that I feel is thought-provoking for the audience. People when they see it tend to look at themselves if they have denied Christ.”

Michael Rawlins, who plays Judas, said the portrayal of the villain of the piece was a strain.

But he added: “One of the reasons why I do it is I hope that seeing me do this will bring people a lot closer to Christ.”

Jeffrey Trott, who will play a Roman guard, said: “It is a very emotional part that I play. I am a dark person who hates Jesus with all his might.”

He said he worked hard to portray an evil character.

Mr Trott explained: “As a Christian, as a true believer, I know what Jesus went through so I can put myself in that place to put him through it again in the eyes of the audience.”

He added: “It is so emotional that days after I get depressed because it took a very very evil person to do something like that to Jesus, our Christ, our Saviour.”

More than 50 people from six churches make up the cast of the play, put on by the East End Ministerial Association.

Erskine Simmons, who plays one of the high priests, said the play had “evolved over the years”.

Mr Simmons said: “When we first started, we didn’t have the type of costuming that we have today. People just put on a bathrobe or something. “

The Reverend Cyril Simmons, pastor of the Ebenezer Methodist Church and the actor who played Jesus for the past seven years, has prepared mentally, physically and spiritually for the role. Mr Simmons said playing Jesus was a demanding role, but one that he enjoyed.

He added: “To portray Christ, it causes me to dig deep to see what Christ was going through at the time.”

Ms Furbert said: “This is what Jesus went through, we don’t simplify it. We do the best we can to bring forth what happened many, many years ago.

“Because we are Christians and we believe in what we are doing, it makes it a little easier for us.”

Ms Furbert said people would get a true depiction of the crucifixion as the actors submerged themselves in their roles.

She said: “If you see me on the day and say ‘hi June-Ann’, that’s not me.”

The cast will also pay tribute to Eugene Wainwright who played Jesus for 25 years.

Mr Wainwright, who died last year, was involved in the event for more than 30 years.

Ms Furbert said: “He did a really good job. He took pride in the part he played.”

The re-enactment, staged for more than 40 years, will start at the Olde Towne’s Ebenezer Methodist Church at 10.45am and move on to Richard Allen AME Church, then to the Unfinished Church for the scene of Christ at Gethsemane.

Other scenes will take place at the Salvation Army, White Hall lawn, St Peter’s Church and Ordnance Island, where the crucifixion will be staged.