St Just Ordinalia 2021 Residency
Writer in Residence 4th September - 18th September 2021
Information
When I approached Jason Squibb, Artistic Director for 2021’s Ordinalia, about being a Writer in Residence for this year’s Ordinalia in St Just, I had recently finished writing about the first Cornish Language Novel, An Gurun Wosek A Geltya by Melville Bennetto and was relatively new into my dive into the Cornish Language and my own heritage and relationship with Cornish Culture. I had proposed to Jason that, if they accepted, I take up residency during my attendance at the Ordinalia- writing reflective/reactive pieces to watching the performances on the day, interviewing Performers and Cast Members inbetween rehersals and when there was a spare minute of time, and using the space of the Ordinalia to workshop relationships with language (especially revived and lost language) in both my own work and reaching out to the community to put together workshops where they could explore their own relationship with Cornish, in a writing form that allows freedom from traditional rules and strict expectations on form and structure. Jason kindly agreed, allowing me freedom to pursue experimental and creative writing in relationship to the Ordinalia, the performances and the original plays- which are performed by volunteers and was adapted by Pauline Sheppard.
The Cornish Ordinalia is a series of three medieval mystery plays from the early fourteenth century (currently held by the Bodleian Libraries at the University of Oxford), written primarily in Middle Cornish with additional directions in Latin. The three plays are: Origio Mundi, The Origin of the World, Passio Christi, The Passion of Christ, and Resurrexio Domini, The Resurrection of Our Lord. Interwoven throughout the entire narritive of the plays (each performed on a seperate night, all performed in Plen an Gwari- a circular outdoor performance place) is the Legend of the Rood.
Each piece that will be produced will be added to the landing page created on my website for the Ordinalia, including any photography or information relevant to this residency.
Many thanks again to St Just Ordinalia and Jason Squibb for giving me this opportunity, something that allows me to continue to explore Cornish Heritage, Language and Culture in my own work and other people’s!
St Just OrdinaliaBackground Image/Logo for St Just Ordinalia is copyrighted to St Just Ordinalia Company and all rights remain to them, regarding imagery.