A project which has taken four years to complete and is inspired by the rediscovered Gospel of Mary Magdelene is to go on a short tour.
Jo Blake and Carbon Theatre’s new play The Witness reveals how one woman’s buried 2,000-year-old history comes into the life of a contemporary woman, demanding that the missing pages are written.
Blake examines Mary’s “heretical” Gospel, reframing it as “necessary and courageous female testimony”.
Blake said, “I’m thrilled to finally be bringing this story to light. It’s taken quite some time and effort. There’s so much in Mary Magdalene that feels relevant to our times, for people of any faith or none—she is courage, endurance, transformation. There is no ‘one’ Mary Magdalene. The Witness is our imagining of her and her missing pages.”
The cast features Jo Blake and Robert Clark who is also collaborative deviser. Producer is Courtenay Johnson. Movement director is Ben Duke, lead dramaturg is Lootie Johansen-Bibby and Sheila Ghelani is visiting dramaturg. The other collaborative deviser is Georgia Tillery-Randak. Ruth Stringer is set and costume designer, lighting designer is Adi Currie and Patrick Middleton is sound designer.
The Witness will be staged at Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester on Friday 31 March, The Core at Corby Cube, Corby, Northamptonshire on Saturday 1 April, Stantonbury Theatre, Stantonbury, Milton Keynes on Thursday 6 April, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Northampton on Saturday 8 April and Royal and Derngate, Northampton on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18 May.