Cindy Oswin’s Cell
ELIZABETH ALLEN on Cindy Oswin – writer, librettist, actor, academic – and her new one-act play showcasing and interrogating Julian of Norwich
“All shall be well, all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”
Many people will recognise this lyrical expression of ultimate hope, but not everyone will know that the lines form part of a text written by Dame Julian of Norwich, the first woman known to have written in the English language.This year is the 650th anniversary of the publication of that text, Revelations of Divine Love, and Dame Julian is the subject of Cell, a one-act play written and performed by Cindy Oswin and soon to be staged at Christ Church in St Leonards.
Dame Julian is a wonderfully interesting subject. Having lived through a severe illness and the terrible years of the Black Death, which killed off nearly half the population of Norwich, as an older woman she chose to become an anchorite, and lived for nearly forty years enclosed in a small cell. As a visionary and wise woman, she became a national celebrity, and numerous visitors came for counsel, communicating with her through a tiny window called a squint.
It is her extraordinary spiritual life, which enabled her endurance and steadfastness, that has fascinated Oswin in constructing Cell, commissioned by Somerville College Oxford. “Dame Julian is a highly sophisticated theologian with very pronounced views. For example she states clearly that there is ‘no Hell for how could a loving Father condemn his children to such a place?’ The centre of her vision is Love,” remarks Oswin, and continues “Although God is the Father, she writes of Jesus as a mother whose concern is to look after her children. It was not unknown for Christ to be understood like this, but no other writer develops it in the way that Julian does.”
In the play, Cindy adopts the persona of a tour guide at St Julian’s shrine, a disappointed older woman who, given the advantage of contemporary scientific knowledge, challenges and interrogates Julian’s beliefs. This combination of challenge and celebration makes for a powerful experience.
Cindy, now living in St Leonards, has an impressive history of writing and performing, including commissions from the British Library on experimental theatre in the 70s and 80s, libretti for operas performed at London’s Coliseum, a part in Derek Jarman’s film Caravaggio and co-writing (with Mark Rylance) the script for the Royal Opening of the Globe theatre.
One word of warning to anyone considering getting hold of a copy of The Revelations of Divine Love: I would strongly advise avoiding the Penguin version. The modern English translation of that glorious All shall be well line is rendered as “I may make everything alright”. It doesn’t quite offer the same lift to the spirit.
The St Leonards performance of Cell will take place at Christ Church, Silchester Road at 7.30 on Saturday 30 September. For those interested in finding out more about Dame Julian, there will be a prior discussion held at the same church on Thursday 28 September at 4pm.
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