London SE1 > News & Features > April 2000

Southwark Mysteries

Following years of work, Southwark playwright and poet John Constable's cycle of mystery plays will finally be given their world première this month with a spectacular promenade performance on Easter Day at Shakespeare's Globe and Southwark Cathedral. The production, by a professional cast working with community actors, begins at Shakespeare's Globe and ends with The Harrowing of Hell in Southwark Cathedral.

The Southwark Mysteries were allegedly revealed to John Crow, trickster familiar of the Southwark poet and playwright, by The Goose, the spirit of a medieval Bankside prostitute licensed by the Bishop of Winchester to work within the Liberty of the Clink.

In Constable's apocalyptic vision, John Crow encounters The Goose at Crossbones, the prostitutes' graveyard unearthed during work on the Jubilee Line Extension. She initiates him into a secret history spanning 2000 years.

Rooted in the history of London's "outlaw borough", these plays juxtapose Christian and pagan mystery traditions with South London folklore and colloquial irreverence, challenging dogma with an inclusive vision of humanity.

Also this month, The Goose at Liberty, featuring poems, songs and ritual drama from the Vision Books of the Southwark Mysteries can be seen at the Southwark Playhouse. Check out the website next month for details of Southwark Mysteries events at the Old Operating Theatre and a lunchtime performance at St John's Waterloo.

World première: Sunday 23 April, 6.30pm

All tickets are £15. Call the Shakespeare's Globe box office on 020 7401 9919.

Southwark Mysteries is published by Oberon Books.

Website mysteries.southwark.org.uk