A blue whale made its stately way around the stage, and a pair of desperate dodos arrived too late for the Ark. The arches of York Minster rang with the clash of steel as Archangel Michael and his legions took on the hosts of hell. Pontius Pilate was distracted from an amorous interlude with news of a tiresome ecclesiastical quarrel. Roman soldiers made ribald jokes as they went about the routine business of crucifixion, the Bethlehem shepherds danced with their sheep, and a formidable Mrs Noah handbagged her husband to within an inch of his life.