A multiverse myth for radio, written and performed by John Constable:

John Constable aka John Crow is a south London writer and performer, author of The Southwark Mysteries. Having read English at Cambridge, he travelled widely in the Far East, then toured Europe with Sheer Madness theatre group in the prize-winning Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits, then Kaktus who produced his first play Space Monkey. His plays include Black Mas, Tulip Futures and the stage adaptations of Mervyn Peake’s Gormenghast and Paul Theroux’s The Mosquito Coast. His radio adaptations of John Wyndham’s novels The Kraken Wakes and Chocky were released on DVD in the BBC’s Classic Radio Sci-fi series. His solo shows include I Was An Alien Sex God and Raingods Become Me.

John Constable’s Sha-Manic Plays, his stage adaptation of Gormenghast, The Southwark Mysteries and Secret Bankside – Walks In The Outlaw Borough are all published by Oberon Books.

The Southwark Mysteries began in 1996 as a cycle of ‘Vision Books’, mystical poems inspired by the spirit of The Goose, a prostitute licensed by the church in Southwark’s Liberty of the Clink and allegedly buried in the Cross Bones Graveyard. By 1999, the work had expanded to include a cycle of contemporary ‘Mystery Plays’, first performed in Shakespeare’s Globe and Southwark Cathedral on Easter Sunday, 23rd April 2000. The book, published by Oberon Books, also features a ‘Glossolalia’ of local history and folk-lore. For his SOUTHWARK MYSTERIES group John has directed many workshops and community dramas.

www.southwarkmysteries.co.uk

John gives talks on magic and mysticism and leads unusual guided walks. He is also widely known as John Crow, the south London shaman who channels The Goose. In this persona he conducts the annual Halloween of Cross Bones, other rituals and workshops such as Shamanic Playhouse.

John Crow has performed his poetry and songs world-wide, hosted The Palace of Wisdom -the all-night poetry tent at the Glastonbury Festival – and sung with The Mother Of All Bands.

CD collections of his magical songs The Cap of Liberty and The Southwark Mysteries: shamanic songs, poems and raps are available from mysteries@boltblue.com

John Constable is also patron of REWRITE, a Southwark-based charity bringing together young people from different backgrounds to fight prejudice and injustice, particularly surrounding refuge and asylum, through the power of drama and creative writing.

Photos of John Constable by Gary Neale, Juliet Singer and Max Reeve.

Time Out of Mind

At first sight, you might say:
Modest, unassuming
In a well-bred Hampshire way.

A parish church, dreaming
Its snail-like extrusion.
Appearances deceive.

That westbound nave, conceived
On a far grander scale,
The emanation of a Bishop’s Throne:

A space bound in stone
To make men dwindle before God
Cast in the image of a feudal Lord.

Bad drainage and subsidence tamed their pride.
A tower fell. Walls sagged. The snail
Drew in its horns to shore up from inside.

A prose-poem inspired by the Arts Council residency at Winchester Cathedral. Published online at art-architecture.co.uk