John Constable - The Southwark mysteries

First published by Oberon Books in 1999

Electronic edition published in 2012
Oberon Books Ltd
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Revised edition in 2011.

Copyright John Constable 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2011
The Song of The Goose: music copyright Richard Kilgour 1999
The Book of The Goose was first published as a limited edition of 23 copies designed by kateEkaos and Hand Maid by Rough Trade in Southwark.
Excerpts from The Nag Hammadi Library by James M. Robinson (ed.) 1977.
Reprinted by permission of E. J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands.
Excerpts from The Gnostic Religion by Hans Jonas 1963. Reprinted by permission of Beacon Press.
Excerpts from Fragments of a Faith Forgotten by G. R. S. Mead 1960. Reprinted by permission of Kessinger Publishing, LLC, P.O. Box 160, Kila, MT 59920, USA. Tel: 406 756 0167. Fax: 406 257 5051.
Extracts from the authorised version of the Bible (The King James Bible), the rights in which are vested in the Crown, are reproduced by permission of the Crowns Patentee, Cambridge University Press.

John Constable is hereby identified as author of these works in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The author has asserted his moral rights.

All rights whatsoever in these works are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before rehearsal to United Agents, 12-26 Lexington Street, London W1F 0LE. (www.unitedagents.co.uk)No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of any of the contents without the authors prior written consent. No performance of the music may be given without prior permission of John Constable and Richard Kilgour c/o Oberon Books Ltd..

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or medium including electronic media, computer diskette or tapes, the Internet, or photocopying without the prior written consent of the publishers.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

PB ISBN: 978-1-84002-099-1
E ISBN: 978-1-8494-3853-7

Crow illustration: Andrzej Klimowski

Whore illustration: Andrzej Klimowski

Item,
that the women of the common brothel
shall be seen every day for what they be,
and a woman that liveth by her body
shall have free licence and liberty
to come and to go at all times,
without any interruption of the Stewholder.

From The Ordinances touching the Government of the Stewholders in Southwark under the direction of the Bishop of Winchester instituted in the Time of Henry the Second, 1161 AD .

A Common Whore

T he Southwark Mysteries began on the night of 23rd November 1996, when I wrote the first of The Vision Books inspired by The Goose, the spirit of a prostitute from Southwarks ancient Liberty of the Clink, licensed by a Bishop yet buried in the unconsecrated Crossbones Graveyard. In these apocalyptic verses, The Goose initiates my trickster familiar John Crow into a secret history - a vision of the Spirit in the flesh, the Sacred in the profane, Eternity in time.

This vision inspires and informs The Mystery Plays, a contemporary Southwark Cycle rooted in the medieval mysteries, retelling sacred stories in the earthy language and context of our own time and place. The third part of the work is a Glossolalia of local history and esoteric lore to be read in conjunction with the poems and plays.

The Southwark Mysteries was first performed in Shakespeares Globe and Southwark Cathedral, on Easter Sunday, 23rd April 2000. Local MP Simon Hughes called it the jewel in the crown of Southwarks millennium celebrations and proposed that it be staged every decade. A new production was presented in Southwark Cathedral in 2010.

In the decade between these epic productions, SOUTHWARK MYSTERIES presented workshops, guided walks and site-specific performances inspired by the work. Selected texts from The Vision Books featured in The Anatomy Class at The Old Operating Theatre, The Goose At Liberty in Southwark Playhouse, and The Halloween of Crossbones, a ritual drama conducted annually 1998-2010. The Halloween performance culminated in a candle-lit procession to the gates of Crossbones Graveyard; the red iron gates of the desolate works-site were decorated with ribbons, flowers, feathers, keys, mirrors, jewellery, mementoes and totems, creating a shrine to the outcast dead.

The Southwark Mysteries reclaimed the lost history of Crossbones, re-envisioning the forgotten, derelict wasteland as sacred ground, a portal between worlds, a garden of healing and transformation. The gates in Redcross Way have become a place of pilgrimage and Crossbones Graveyard is now recognised as a unique heritage site. Vigils are held at 7pm on the 23rd of every month - to remember the outcast, to renew the shrine and to work towards the creation of a public garden of remembrance on the site of the old burial ground. A wild Invisible Garden already grows there.

***

This new edition is dedicated to the Very Reverend Colin Slee, late Dean of Southwark Cathedral. Colin was a powerful advocate for The Southwark Mysteries and took an active interest in the work, striving to firm-up its theological foundations. No stranger to controversy, he robustly defended the Easter Sunday 2000 performance in the Cathedral, provoking a Sunday Telegraph headline: Dean rejects critics of Southwarks swearing Jesus Mystery Play. The Dean and Chapter withstood the storm, invited us back and were generous hosts to the 2010 production.

The entire work, and specifically the productions, could got not have been realised without the help and unwavering support of my partner, Katharine Nicholls. I would like to add my thanks to my literary agent Nicki Stoddart and publisher James Hogan, to SOUTHWARK MYSTERIES patrons Mark Rylance and Simon Hughes MP, and to all who supported the productions or worked to manifest the vision at Crossbones. To name but a few:

Beccy Allen, Irene Anderson-King, Katherine Angel, Anna Arthur, Steve Ash, Jimmy Cauty, Dan Clarke, Jack Cleere, Jennifer Cooper, Sarah Davey-Hull, Jo Dubiel, Robert Elms, Coral Flood, Jilly Forster, Noyumi Furukawa, Rose Harding, Christina Oakley Harrington, Andrew Hulme, Pete King, Andy Lockwood, Michelle Malka, James Mannion, Maria, Barry Mason, Niall McDevitt, Bronwyn Murphy, Kevin Murphy, Lisa Murphy, Mani Navasothy, Paul Newman, Canon Andrew Nunn, Allison Pollard-Barber, Max Reeves, Aileen Richmond, David Risley, Giles Semper, Valerie Shawcross, Nick Stanton, Pauline Stockmans, Vee, Joanna Vignola, Michelle Watson, Sarah Abigail Weightman, Tom Weller, Ion Will, Caroline Wise, Anne Wolfe, Scott Wood, Raga Woods, Jacqui Woodward-Smith.

***

Aside from minor amendments,