SHAKESPEARE’S THREE MARYS: FOR 5 ACTORS

by John Hudson email; Darkladyplayers@aol.com

Draft at 7.29.2009. Workshop Dates afternoons 5 and 12 September NYC

Alexandra Cohen Spiegler ( kneeling) gives Hamlet’s letter to Ophelia (Anna Wood
standing). Photo © Ellen Rolfes (2009)

The event will begin with processions around Washington Square which will lead into the
theater space. During the procession the Virgin Mary Mystery Play, an adaptation from
the York Mystery Plays, will be performed, repeating some scenes. During the
procession the actors will interact improvisationally with the passers by offering them
pieces of the virgin mary’s toenail cuttings, blue threads from her robe, flower petals
from her crown, fragmentary pieces of the Gospel of Luke annunciation account, and a
newspaper-like flyer.

SCENE 1: MARY’s PREGNANCY & ANXIOUS JOSEPH

(to audience)
Joseph; Now Joseph, in his mourning will I play,
And walk full mournfully along this way.

How, I know not, am I beguiled!

My young wife, is great with child!
That gives me now, a sorrow unsought.
As to how, this thing was wrought.

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Mary; Joseph, husband..

(to audience)
Joseph; She claims an angel made her with child.
I will not in such foolishness believe,
Nay, some man in an angel's likeness
With some foul trick has her beguiled;
(to Mary)
Therefore, you need no words so wild
To carp at me deceivingly!
Why feign such foolish fantasy?

Alas, I am so full of woe!

and soon will die for sorrow.

Mary; Truly sir…

(to audience)
Joseph; For me, this is a woeful case.
Reckless I rave, my wittes all are fled.
I dare look no man in the face.
Wretched for sorrow--why am I not dead?
Loathsome is my life!
Was never a man so woe?
For pity, my heart is rife!
(to Mary)
Alas, why wrought you so,
Mary, my wedded wife?

Mary; To my witness, great God I call,

That in his mind wrought never amiss…

Joseph; Go get thee away (Mary exits)

(to audience)
Why would not some young man take her?
For sure I think I must forsake her.

(enter angel)
Angel; Behold! I am God's angel;
Sent here for this bidding
Leave her not, I forbid you!
And of her, nought fear you.
The child that shall be born of her,
Will bring us joy and bliss forever,

Joseph; Angel, is this truth you say?

Angel; Yea, and for a token right away:

Her child shall be born this night
Who, of all men is most in might.

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 SCENE 2. MARY’s ASSUMPTION INTO HEAVEN & CORONATION

Apostle; Now thirty years have passed---that babe

Has grown into a man, and lies there in his tomb.

In wailing and weeping, in woe I am weighed,

In sight and in sorrow, in sighing full sad.
My lord and my love, lo, full low is he laid:
That makes me to mourn now, distracted and mad.

What harling and hurling that headsman he had!

What breaking of branches were burst all about him!
I learn thus to loyally love him and laud him,
That comely to ken, he who died for us men.

(enter Mary in between two angels singing)

Oh glorious God, what gleams are these glyding?
I move in my mind, what may this all mean?
I see a bird borne, with bliss to be byding
With angels in company, comely and clean.

Many strange sights I am certain I've seen,

But this mirth and this melody madden my mind!

Mary; Banish the doubts for I tell you this tide

Now fare I forth, my fair son to find

Apostle; Where go you, I pray, sovereign lady?

Mary; To bliss; with my son in heaven.

Angel: Rise Mary, O maiden and mother

Rise, lovely lily, your prayer is pleasing.
Rise, chief of chastity
Rise, ripe rose in your reigning.
Rise, like a dove, of your son to be seeing.
Rise up chosen child.
Rise up to the king for your crowning.

Mary: Soon shall I kneel to the one with the crown.

Anyone who despairs, in dale or down,
In peril with plaint, if only they pray me
My son will grant grace-- I am sure he will say me.
(Mary and the angels exit, apostle waves goodbye)

Apostle: I thank you, loveliest lady,

we shall have no more speech
Now I pass from your presence,

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the people for to preach

SCENE 3. MARY’s CORONATION IN HEAVEN

(enter Jesus, followed by angels)

Jesus: My angels that are bright and sheen,

With my message, take the way.
Go to Mary, my mother clean,
That lady brighter than the day.

Greet her well when you are seen,

And to that maiden you shall say,
Of Heaven she's my chosen queen,
In joy and bliss that shall last for aye.

I will tell you what I have thought,

And why to her you now shall wend:
I want her body to me brought,
To bide in bliss without an end.

Angel; I am ready your bidding to fulfill.

I'll fetch your mother, just as is your will

(angel goes up to Mary and bring her)

Angel; Now, oh worthy one, we go
Up to your Son, who is so sweet.
To crown you Queen, before his seat,
Rise with me through the sky
And take your place enthroned
In heaven all on high

(Angel returns with Mary between them again)

Jesus. (addresses Mary)
Welcome, Mary, maid so bright:
You are my mother, and I your son;
You will dwell in bliss, and light
And wear this golden crown you've won. (crowns her)

(addresses the angels)

My angels bright, a song now sing,
In honor of my mother dear;
And now I shall give my blessing:
Holy now, for all those here.

Having collected an audience, the actors now process into the downstairs space at
ManhattanTheaterSource. The window stage is set up as a Mary-Shrine but we may use
the rest of the space such as the staircase and bar area. The spectators may be given a
Program Guide to the Life of the Virgin Mary and may be asked for a donation.

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Clown; OUR FIRST VIRGIN MARY MINI-PLAY: OPHELIA DOES THE VIRGIN MARY

All on stage together kneeling

ALL. O Virgo Virginorum, O Virgo Virginorum

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee
Blessed art thou among women and blessed
is the bread of thy womb Jesus.
Holy Mary blessed is thy holy, immaculate Conception
And blessed is thy wholly incredible Annunciation
Holy Mary, celestial idol, succour of the poor
Our pregnant bride, our Queen of May,
Cloth’ed in the Sun, float through the sky
To be crowned as Heaven’s Queen (chanted)

Clown. THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY WHILE SEWING

The First Lesson on the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary Is taken from the Infancy
Gospel Of James and the Gospel of Luke . Enter Mary/Ophelia heavily pregnant

Mary/Ophelia; (enters and begins to weave threads in a Dumbshow)

Clown “The child Mary, was undefiled before God: and she began to weave the gold
and the white fine linen and the silk and the hyacinthine, and the scarlet and the true
purple. And Mary took the scarlet and began to spin it, when a voice said :
Offstage Voice: “HAIL, THOU THAT ART HIGHLY FAVOURED; THE LORD IS WITH
THEE”.
Clown: Mary was greatly troubled at these words. And she looked about her, to see
whence this voice should be: and being filled with trembling she sat down upon her seat
and drew out the purple thread. But the angel said to her:
Offstage Voice 'DO NOT BE FRIGHTENED, MARY, YOU HAVE FOUND FAVOR
WITH GOD.'
Clown. Now it was the sixth month with her, and behold Joseph entered into his house
and found her great with child. And he smote his face, and cast himself down upon the
ground on sackcloth and wept bitterly, and said:
Joseph/Hamlet With what countenance shall I look unto the Lord my God ? and what
prayer shall I make concerning this maiden? for I received her out of the temple a virgin,
and have not kept her safe.”

Exit clown, Joseph/Hamlet goes elsewhere in the room. Enter Polonius

Clown; Part One the Virgin Mary in Hamlet
Polonius. How now, Ophelia? What's the matter?
Ophelia. O my lord, my lord, I have been so affrighted!
Polonius. With what, i' th' name of God?
Ophelia. My lord, as I was sewing in my closet, Lord Hamlet, with his doublet all
unbrac'd, No hat upon his head, his stockings foul'd, Ungart'red, and down-
gyved to his ankle; Pale as his shirt, his knees knocking each other, And with a
look so piteous in purport As if he had been loosed out of hell To speak of
horrors- he comes before me.
Polonius. Mad for thy love?
Ophelia. My lord, I do not know, But truly I do fear it.
Polonius. What said he?

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Ophelia. He took me by the wrist and held me hard; Then goes he to the length of all
his arm, And, with his other hand thus o'er his brow, He falls to such perusal
of my face As he would draw it. Long stay'd he so. At last, a little shaking of
mine arm, And thrice his head thus waving up and down, He rais'd a sigh so
piteous and profound As it did seem to shatter all his bulk And end his being.
That done, he lets me go, And with his head over his shoulder turn'd He
seem'd to find his way without his eyes, For out o' doors he went without their
help And to the last bended THEIR LIGHT on me.

(the above actions are staged by Hamlet elsewhere in the room, wearing
his sun ray hat and his Son of Hyperion =Helios sign)

Polonius. Come, go with me. This is the very ecstasy of love, Whose violent property
fordoes itself And leads the will to desperate undertakings As oft as any passion
under heaven That does afflict our natures. I am sorry. What, have you given
him any hard words of late?
Ophelia. No, my good lord; but, as you did command, I did repel his letters and denied
His access to me.
Polonius. That hath made him mad. (she exits)

(enter Claudius/ Clown))

Clown: Scene 2. MARY’S IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

Mary enters holding prominent Fex-ed envelope
Polonius. Perpend. I have a daughter (have while she is mine), Who in her duty and
obedience, mark, Hath shown me this. [Reads the Envelope] 'What a strange
address;

FROM HAMLET FIRST CLASS

To The celestial, IN HEAVEN

and my soul's idol, IDOLATRY
the most beatified SUPREMELY BLESSED
Ophelia,' GREEK FOR LADY OF
SUCCOUR ie. MARY

Now gather, and surmise. That's an ill phrase, a vile phrase; 'beatified' is a vile phrase.
Clown/Claudius. To the supremely blessed, heavenly, idol , the Lady of Succour,.
This strange address surely proves his madness.
Polonius. But you shall hear. Thus: [Reads the actual letter).]
'In her excellent white bosom, these….
'Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.
'O dear Ophelia, I am ill at these numbers;
I have not art to reckon my groans; but that I love thee best,
O most best, believe it. Adieu.
'Thine evermore, most dear lady, whilst this machine is to him, HAMLET.'

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 (Ophelia exits)

This, in obedience, hath my daughter shown me; And more above, hath his solicitings,
As they fell out by time, by means, and place, All given to mine ear.
Clown/Claudius But how hath she Receiv'd his love?
Polonius. What do you think of me?
Clown/Claudius. As of a man faithful and honourable.
Polonius. I would fain prove so. But what might you think, When I had seen this hot
love on the wing (As I perceiv'd it, I must tell you that, Before my daughter told me),
what might you, think, If I had play'd the desk or table book, Or given my heart a
winking, mute and dumb, Or look'd upon this love with idle sight? What might you
think? No, I went round to work And my young mistress thus I did bespeak: 'Lord
Hamlet is a prince, out of thy star. This must not be.' And then I prescripts gave her,
That she should lock herself from his resort,
Admit no messengers, receive no tokens. Which done, she took the fruits of my advice,
And he, repulsed, a short tale to make, Fell into a sadness, then into a fast, Thence
to a watch, thence into a weakness, Thence to a lightness, and, by this declension,
Into the madness wherein now he raves, And all we mourn for.
Clown/Claudius. Do you think 'tis this?
Polonius. Hath there been such a time- I would fain know that- That I have Positively
said 'Tis so,' When it prov'd otherwise.?
Clown/Claudius. Not that I know.
Polonius. [points to his head and shoulder] Take this from this, if this be otherwise. If
circumstances lead me, I will find Where truth is hid, though it were hid indeed Within
the centre.
Clown/Claudius. How may we try it further?
Polonius. You know sometimes he walks for hours together Here in the lobby.
At such a time I'll loose my daughter to him.
Clown/Claudius. We will try it. (Exits)
Enter Hamlet, reading a Book/Flipchart titled

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION FOR DUMMIES

Polonius. How does my good Lord Hamlet?

Hamlet. Well, God-a-mercy.
Polonius. Do you know me, my lord?
Hamlet. Excellent well. You are a fishmonger.
Polonius. Not I, my lord.
Hamlet. Then I would you were so honest a man.
Polonius. Honest, my lord?
Hamlet. Ay, sir. To be honest, as this world goes, is to be one man pick'd out of ten
thousand.
Polonius. That's very true, my lord.
Hamlet. (opens the Book/Flipchart and shows the audience the pages. The first page
reads as follows. Hamlet studies it)

Alanus de Insulis SAYS

MARY CONCEIVED CHRIST
LIKE THE WAY THAT THE SUN
BREEDS MAGGOTS IN CARRION

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 For if THE SUN BREED MAGGOTS IN A DEAD DOG,
being A GOD KISSING CARRION- Have you a daughter?

Polonius. I have, my lord.

Hamlet. Let her not walk i' th' sun. Conception is
a blessing, but not as your daughter may
conceive. Friend, look to't.
(Exits)

Polonius. How pregnant sometimes his replies

are! a happiness that often madness hits on,
which reason and sanity could not so
prosperously be delivered of. I will leave him and
suddenly contrive the means of meeting between
him and my daughter

Clown. (takes over the flip chart) Hmmm.

Maybe it is a riddle? Conception is a blessing,
but not as your daughter may conceive. Mary
conceived Jesus…..like the way a sunbeam
generates maggots in a carcass. That is why
she has to beware Hyperion’s son Helios….
better known as Hamlet.

Photo © Jonathan Slaff (2009)

Clown; Now lets rewind and see another take on it. When not shown sewing,
annunciation paintings showed Mary reading prayers, and being interrupted by a
messenger from heaven. In our next tableau she is reading but interrupted by Hamlet
who calls her Nymphe, the word for the Bride of Christ. He wonders if she is pregnant
already. Cant he tell?

Clown; Scene 3. THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY WHILE READING

(Enter Ophelia who sits down in a tableau and is given a large Prayerbook full of
prayers/orisons.One is HAIL MARY FULL OF GRACE Polonius arranges her
staging and appearance.

Polonius. Ophelia, walk you here.- Read on this book, That show of such an exercise
may colour your loneliness. We are oft to blame in this—Tis too much proved—that with
devotion’s visage And pious actions we do sugar over The devil himself. I hear him
coming. (Exits)

Enter Hamlet in suicidal mood reciting parts of his speech to himself

Hamlet. In that sleep of death what dreams may come

when we have shuffled off this mortal coil? Who would these fardels bear
To grunt and sweat under a weary life
When he himself might his quietus make with a bare bodkin?
to be or not to be, that is the question Soft you now! (to himself)

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The fair Ophelia!- Nymph, in thy orisons Be all my sins rememb'red.
Ophelia. Good my lord, How does your honour for this many a day?
Hamlet. I humbly thank you; well, well, well.
Ophelia. My lord, I have remembrances of yours That I have longed long to re-deliver. I
pray you, now receive them.
Hamlet. No, not I! I never gave you aught.
Ophelia. My honour'd lord, you know right well you did, And with them words of so
sweet breath compos'd As made the things more rich. Their perfume lost, Take these
again; for to the noble mind. Rich gifts wax poor when givers prove unkind. There, my
lord.
Hamlet. Ha, ha! Are you honest?
(Ophelia’s puppet maggots creep out)

Ophelia. My lord?
Hamlet. Are you fair?
Ophelia. What means your lordship?
Hamlet. That if you be honest and fair, your honesty should admit no discourse to your
beauty.
Ophelia. Could beauty, my lord, have better commerce than with honesty?
Hamlet. Ay, truly; for the power of beauty will sooner transform honesty from what it is
to a bawd than the force of honesty can translate beauty into his likeness. This was
sometime a paradox, but now the time gives it proof. I did love you once.
Ophelia. Indeed, my lord, you made me believe so.
Hamlet. You should not have believ'd me; for virtue cannot so inoculate our old stock but
we shall relish of it. I loved you not.
Ophelia. I was the more deceived.
Hamlet. Get thee to a nunnery! Why wouldst thou be a breeder of sinners? I am myself
indifferent honest, but yet I could accuse me of such things that it were better my
mother had not borne me. I am very proud, revengeful, ambitious; with more offences at
my beck than I have thoughts to put them in, imagination to give them shape, or time to
act them in. What should such fellows as I do, crawling between earth and heaven? We
are arrant knaves all; believe none of us. Go thy ways to a nunnery. Where's your
father?
Ophelia. At home, my lord.
Hamlet. Let the doors be shut upon him, that he may play the fool nowhere but in's own
house. Farewell.
Ophelia. O, help him, you sweet heavens!
Hamlet. If thou dost marry, I'll give thee this plague for thy dowry: be thou as chaste as
ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not escape calumny. Get thee to a nunnery. Go,
farewell. Or if thou wilt needs marry, marry a fool; for wise men know well enough what
monsters you make of them. To a nunnery, go; and quickly too. Farewell.
Ophelia. O heavenly powers, restore him!
Hamlet. I have heard of your paintings too, well enough. God hath given you one face,
and you make yourselves another. You jig, you amble, and you lisp; you nickname
God's creatures and make your wantonness your ignorance. Go to, I'll no more on't! it
hath made me mad. I say, we will have no more marriages. Those that are married
already- all but one- shall live; the rest shall keep as they are. To a nunnery, go
Ophelia. O, what a noble mind is here o'erthrown! .
O, woe is me T' have seen what I have seen, see what I see!
(Exit Ophelia with all the maggots)

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Clown. Scene 4. VIRGIN MARY AS A NOTHING
(counting) Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh…..O Virgo Virginium. No need for the O Antiphons. I will get
straight to the sermon. Today’s sermon is the Explanation of the Magnificat, (1521) by
Martin Luther. He calls Mary a nothing—which in Elizabethan English also meant an O,
a no-thing, and yes I am also talking of country matters. As Luther put it;

(Clown takes up Luther cardboard cutout in German accent)

“One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she
expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds. How
then can we praise her? The true honor of Mary is the honor of God,
the praise of God’s grace…Mary is nothing for the sake of herself,
but for the sake of Christ…Mary does not wish that we come to her,
but through her to God.” Mary is a Nothing, an O. Just like someone
else in this play.

enter Ophelia without worms but visibly pregnant

Hamlet. Lady, shall I lie in your lap? [Sits down at Ophelia's feet.]
Ophelia. No, my lord.
Hamlet. I mean, my head upon your lap?
Ophelia. Ay, my lord.
Hamlet. Do you think I meant country matters?
Ophelia. I think nothing, my lord.
Hamlet. That's a fair thought to lie between maids' legs.
Ophelia. What is, my lord?
Hamlet. Nothing.
Ophelia. You are merry, my lord.
Hamlet. Who, I?
Ophelia. Ay, my lord.
Hamlet O God, your only jig-maker! What should a man do but be merry?.
O heavens! There's hope a great man's memory may outlive his life half a year. But, by'r
Lady, he must build churches then; or else shall he suffer not thinking on, with the
hobby-horse, whose epitaph is 'For O, for O, the hobby-horse is forgot!'
(exits)

Clown; Scene 5.VIRGIN MARY AS BAKER

Clown. How do you, pretty lady?
Ophelia. Well, God dild you! They say the owl was a baker's daughter.
Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.
God be at your table!
Clown Hmm. (to audience) Do you understand what she is saying? How about you?
No? Whats that?
Offstage Voice; THE VIRGIN MARY WAS CALLED THE BAKER.
Clown; Yes, because her womb baked the bread of life. Anyone else?
Offstage voice; ‘GOD BE AT YOUR TABLE’ MEANS THE EUCHARIST.
Clown; Yes that’s true as well. But look heres the problem. In the medieval legend
Jesus went into a baker's shop. The mistress of the shop put a bun in the oven for him,
but the daughter said it was too big. So Jesus turned her into an owl, an omen of evil. If

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Ophelia is the Virgin Mary, how can she also be an evil omen?

Clown; Scene 6. MARY’S SONGS OF DEATH ,

ALL; As you came from the holy land Of Walsingham, Met you not with my true love By
the way as you came ?
How shall I know your true love, That have met many one, As I went to the holy
land, That have come, that have gone ?

She is neither white nor brown, But as the heavens fair ; There is none hath a form so
divine In the earth or the air

Ophelia enters no longer pregnant

Ophelia. [sings] How should I your true-love know From another one?
By his cockle bat and' staff And his sandal shoon.
Clown. Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?
Why sing of pilgrims cockles and Our Lady ‘Walsingham?,
our England’s Nazareth, our Lady’s sacred Shrine
that copied Mary’s House where Angel Gabriel
announced the incarnation of our true Lord?

Ophelia. He is dead and gone, He is dead and gone;

At his head a grass-green turf,
At his heels a stone. O, ho!
White his shroud as the mountain snow-
Larded all with sweet flowers;
Which bewept to the grave did not go
With true-love showers.
Clown. Conceit upon her father.
Ophelia. Pray let's have no words of this; but when they ask you what it means, say you
this: (Sings) To-morrow is Saint Valentine's day, All in the morning bedtime, And I a
maid at your window, To be your Valentine. Then up he rose and donn'd his clo'es And
dupp'd the chamber door, Let in the maid, that out a maid Never departed more.
Clown. Pretty Ophelia!
Ophelia. Indeed, la, without an oath, I'll make an end on't! [Sings] By Jesus and by
Saint Charity, Alack, and fie for shame! Young men will do't if they come to't By God,
they are to blame. Quoth she, 'Before you tumbled me, You promis'd me to wed.' He
answers: 'So would I 'a' done, by yonder sun, An thou hadst not come to my bed.'
Enter Laertes

Laertes. How now? O heat, dry up my brains! Tears seven times salt Burn out the
sense and virtue of mine eye! By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight Till our
scale turn the beam. O rose of May! Dear maid, kind sister, sweet Ophelia! O

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 heavens! is't possible a young maid's wits Should be as mortal as an old man's life?
Nature is fine in love, and where 'tis fine, It sends some precious instance of itself After
the thing it loves.
Ophelia. [sings] They bore him barefac'd on the bier
(Hey non nony, nony, hey nony)
And in his grave rain'd many a tear. Fare you well, my dove!
Laertes. Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge, It could not move thus.
Ophelia. You must sing 'A-down a-down, and you call him a-down-a.' ; O, how the
wheel becomes it! It is the false steward, that stole his master's daughter.
Clown; Is there meaning in this madness?
Why use these rude words
The vagina is a nony-nony and a down is a whore,
But who is it you mourn, and by our Lady,
why have you collected these sad flowers?
(Ophelia takes up placards, each which has a botanical illustration and a
statement of its function, which the clown reads)
Ophelia. There's rosemary, that's for remembrance. Pray you, love, remember.
Clown; It brings down women’s menses
Ophelia: And there is pansies, that's for thoughts.
Clown; and its good against the pox
Ophelia. There's fennel for you,
Clown; to bring about menstruation
Ophelia; and columbines.
Clown : for cuckoldry
Ophelia;There's rue for you, and here's some for me. We may call it herb of grace o'
Sundays. O, you must wear your rue with a difference!
Clown; That chaste herb putteth a dead child out of the womb
Ophelia: There's a daisy.
Clown; for deception in love
Ophelia; I would give you some violets, but they wither'd all when my father died. They
say he made a good end.
Clown The poor Lady has been deflowered,
But violets cast out the conception of women.
and with rosemary, fennel and rue will give a strong abortion
Ophelia [Sings] For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.
Laertes. Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself, She turns to favour and to prettiness.
Ophelia. [sings] And will he not come again?
And will he not come again?
No, no, he is dead;
Go to thy deathbed;
He never will come again.
His beard was as white as snow,
All flaxen was his poll.
He is gone, he is gone,
And we cast away moan.
God 'a'mercy on his soul!
And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God b' wi' you. Exit

Clown; And now a note from our sponsor.

The Dark Lady Players are not advocating
natural herbal remedies for abortion.

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Any Mary considering an abortion should consult
her gynaecologist and health care provider.
This production of Shakespeare’s Hamlet
is not an offer to procure or advise on
abortion services in any way whatsoever.

Clown; (checking a flipchart)

THE HOLY ANNUNCIATION

THE MOST IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
MARY AS THE WHORE
OUR HEAVENLY QUEEN
HER ASSUMPTION & CORONATION

We have done the first scenes in our mystery play Ophelia Does the Virgin Mary
The Holy Annunciation That’s Ophelia sewing in her closet, and interrupted
reading,
The Most Immaculate Conception That’s the maggots in the dead dog
Mary As the Whore That’s the pregnant bride with the abortionists herbs, the
heretical baker, and the country nothing,
Our Heavenly Queen Ophelia’s mailing address is the celestial idol. And Her
name means Succour. Just like Mary Our Lady of Succour.

Now for the last part I give you Scene 7 . MARY’s CORONATION AND ASSUMPTION
INTO HEAVEN That is where Mary physically went up into the sky and got crowned.
. (scream/crash offstage)
Clown; (to audience) That’s why that bit happens offstage
Oh dear. What was that?
Enter Gertrude
Laertes/Gertrude. One woe doth tread upon another's heel,
So fast they follow. Ophelia’s drown'd,
Clown Drown'd! O, where?
Laertes/Gertrude. There is a willow…
Clown. Salix Alba, the abortionist’s friend…
L/Gertrude: which grows aslant a brook, That shows his hoary leaves in the glassy
stream.
Clown; A classy stream?
L/Gertrude. Glassy stream you clown. Like a looking glass.
Clown; OK, OK, I get it, like a mirror of the sky.
Gertrude: There with fantastic garlands did she come, of crowflowers,
Clown; Crowsfoot, prevents fertility
L/Gertrude: Nettles,
Clown; for bad luck
L/Gertrude; daisies,
Clown; for deception
L/Gertrude: and long purples, That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,
Clown; Bollocks. They call them bollocks.

(the following is acted out on the staircase

Ophelia (chants Lauds very softly and after a while Gertrude talks over her)

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God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and show us he light of His countenance upon
us. (repeats)

L/Gertrude: But our cold maids do dead men's fingers call them.
There on the pendant boughs her coronet weeds
Clamb'ring to hang, an envious sliver broke, When down her weedy trophies and
herself, Fell in the weeping brook. And for a while her clothes spread wide abroad, Bore
the young Lady up, and there she sat smiling, Even mermaid like, twixt heaven and
earth; Which time she chaunted snatches of old Lauds, As one incapable of her own
distress, Or like a creature native and indued Unto that element; but long it could not be
Till that her garments, heavy with their drink, Pull'd the poor wretch from her melodious
lay To muddy death.
Ophelia stops chanting
Clown . Alas, then she is drown'd?
L/Gertrude. Drown'd, drown'd.
Clown. Drowned? My Lady fell into the sky,
Hanging twixt earth and heaven
While chanting Psalms, was crowned,
Crowned as our ministering angel

All kneeling on the spot they worship Ophelia

Assumpta est Maria in coelum, gaudent angeli,

laudantes benedicunt Dominum.
Hail Mary full of grace,
With fennel and violets, rue and rose-mary
Thy womb is blessed, unstained, and fair
Celestial idol, climbing through the air,
Be crowned as Heaven’s Queen.

Clown; PART TWO OTHELLO: DESDEMONA AS MARY; THE ANNUNCIATION &

DEATH

Clown The reading is from the Gospel of Marcus and the Gospel of Luccius where
Signior Angelo was sent from heaven as a Messenger, to announce that the Virgin
would conceive a son, which and addressed her Hail Mary

VOICE OFF STAGE [Within] What, ho! what, ho! what, ho!
First Officer. A messenger , a Messenger
Duke of Venice. Now, what's the business?
VOICE OFF STAGE . The Turkish preparation makes for Rhodes; So was I bid report
here to the state By SIGNIOR ANGELO. [exits]
First Officer. Here is more news.
VOICE OFF STAGE The Ottomites, reverend and gracious, Steering with due course
towards the isle of Rhodes, Have there injointed them with an after fleet, Of thirty sail:
and now they do restem Their backward course, bearing with frank appearance Their
purposes toward Cyprus.
Duke of Venice. 'Tis certain, then. MARCUS LUCCICOS, is not he in town?
First Officer. He's now in Florence.
Duke of Venice. Write from us to him.

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 Clown It is a business of some heat: the galleys Have sent a dozen sequent
messengers. Ancient, what makes he here?
Iago. 'Faith, he to-night hath boarded a land carack: If it prove lawful prize, he's made
for ever.
Clown. I do not understand.
Iago. He's married.
Clown. To who?
(Iago whispers)
Clown; The Moor hath achieved a maid That paragons description and wild fame; One
that excels the quirks of blazoning pens, And in the essential vesture of creation Does
tire the engineer. Tempests themselves, high seas, and howling winds, The gutter'd
rocks and congregated sands—Traitors ensteep'd to clog the guiltless keel,— As
having sense of beauty, do omit Their mortal natures, letting go safely by The divine
Desdemona.
[Enter Desdemona dumb and walk across stage

Iago; What is she?

Clown. She that I spake of, our great captain's captain,
She's full of most blessed condition.
O, behold her, The riches of the ship is come on shore!
Ye men of Cyprus, let her have your knees.
HAIL TO THEE, lady! and the GRACE OF HEAVEN, (they kneel)
Before, behind thee, and on every hand,
Enwheel thee round!

[Clowns erect calendars. One says 23 April, the other 3 May.]

Clowns (alternately). April.May.April. May. April. May.
Clown 1. By the Julian calendar today is Holy Saturday 23 April 1603, the day before
Easter. This was the day when Christ lay in the tomb in his winding sheet with the
handkerchief or napkin laid over his face, waiting to be resurrected. Church ritual marked
the day by snuffing out a candle or torch.
Clown 2. But by the Venetian Calendar, today is 3 May 1603 the Feast of the Invention
of the Cross (when the 3 crosses were dug up by St Helena). The gospel reading for the
day is the one in which Mary is betrothed and “found she was with child by the Holy
Ghost”.
Clowns together [shaking hands]; It is BOTH,
Clown 1. the pregnancy of Mary, AND
Clown 2. Jesus, snuffed out in the tomb.
[Enter Emilia and Desdemona]
Emilia. I have laid your wedding sheets upon the bed.
Desdemona. All's one. Good faith, how foolish are our minds! By this heavenly light, If I
do die before thee prithee, shroud me In one of those same sheets.
[exit Emelia] [enter Othello who addresses audience]
Othello; Yet I'll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow,
And smooth as monumental alabaster. Yet she must die, else she'll betray more men.
Put out the light, and then put out the light: If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I
can again thy former light restore, Should I repent me: but once put out thy light, Thou
cunning'st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat That
can thy light relume. When I have pluck'd the rose, I cannot give it vital growth again.
It must needs wither

15
Clown 1. (to audience) See the snuffing of the candle….
Desdemona. Who's there? Othello?
Othello. Ay. Desdemona.
Desdemona. Will you come to bed, my lord?
Othello. Have you pray'd to-night, Desdemona?
Desdemona. Ay, my lord.
Othello. If you bethink yourself of any crime Unreconciled as yet to heaven and grace,
Solicit for it straight.
Desdemona. Alas, my lord, what do you mean by that?
Othello. Well, do it, and be brief; I will walk by: I would not kill thy unprepared
spirit; No; heaven forfend! I would not kill thy soul.
Desdemona. Talk you of killing?
Othello. Ay, I do.
Desdemona. Then heaven Have mercy on me! …
Othello. That handkerchief Did an Egyptian to my mother give; She was a charmer,
and could almost read The thoughts of people: she told her, while she kept it, 'Twould
make her amiable and subdue my father Entirely to her love, but if she lost it Or made
gift of it, my father's eye Should hold her loathed and his spirits should hunt After new
fancies: she, dying, gave it me; And bid me, when my fate would have me wive, To
give it her. I did so: and take heed on't; Make it a darling like your precious eye; To
lose't or give't away were such perdition As nothing else could match.
Desdemona. Is't possible?
Othello. 'Tis true: there's magic in the web of it: A sibyl, that had number'd in the world
The sun to course two hundred compasses, In her prophetic fury sew'd the work; The
worms were hallow'd that did breed the silk; And it was dyed in mummy which the
skilful Conserved of maidens' hearts…..
Desdemona. Alas, why gnaw you so your nether lip? Some bloody passion shakes
your very frame: These are portents; but yet I hope, I hope, They do not point on me.
Othello. Peace, and be still!
Desdemona. I will so. What's the matter?
Othello. That handkerchief which I so loved and gave thee Thou gavest to Cassio.
Desdemona. No, by my life and soul! Send for the man, and ask him.
Othello. Sweet soul, take heed, Take heed of perjury; thou art on thy deathbed.
Desdemona. Ay, but not yet to die.
Othello. Yes, presently: Therefore confess thee freely of thy sin; For to deny each
article with oath Cannot remove nor choke the strong conception That I do groan
withal. Thou art to die.
Desdemona. Then Lord have mercy on me!
Othello. I say, amen.
Desdemona. And have you mercy too! I never did Offend you in my life; never loved
Cassio But with such general warranty of heaven As I might love: I never gave him
token.
Othello. By heaven, I saw my handkerchief in's hand. O perjured woman! thou dost
stone my heart, And makest me call what I intend to do A murder, which I thought a
sacrifice: I saw the handkerchief.
Desdemona. He found it then; I never gave it him: send for him hither; Let him
confess a truth.
Othello. He hath confess'd.
Desdemona. What, my lord?
Othello. That he hath used thee.
Desdemona. How? unlawfully?

16
Othello. Ay.
Desdemona. He will not say so.
Othello. No, his mouth is stopp'd; Honest Iago hath ta'en order for't.
Desdemona. O! my fear interprets: what, is he dead?
Othello. Had all his hairs been lives, my great revenge Had stomach for them all.
Desdemona. Alas! he is betray'd and I undone.
Othello. Out, strumpet! weep'st thou for him to my face?
Desdemona. O, banish me, my lord, but kill me not!
Othello. Down, strumpet!
Desdemona. Kill me to-morrow: let me live to-night!
Othello. Nay, if you strive—
Desdemona. But half an hour!
Othello. Being done, there is no pause.
Desdemona. But while I say one prayer!
Othello. It is too late. [He winds her in the sheet and stifles her by placing the
handkerchief over her face]
Emilia. [Within] My lord, my lord! what, ho! my lord, my lord!
Othello. What noise is this? Not dead? not yet quite dead? I that am cruel am yet
merciful; I would not have thee linger in thy pain: So, so.
Emilia. [Within] What, ho! my lord, my lord!
Othello. Who's there?
Emilia. [Within] O, good my lord, I would speak a word with you!
Othello. Yes: 'tis Emilia. By and by. She's dead. 'Tis like she comes to speak of
Cassio's death.— The noise was here. Ha! no more moving? Still as the grave.
Shall she come in? were't good?— I think she stirs again:—no. What's best to
do? If she come in, she'll sure speak to my wife: My wife! my wife! what wife? I
have no wife.
Emilia. [Within] I do beseech you That I may speak with you, O, good my lord!
Othello. I had forgot thee: O, come in, Emilia; Soft; by and by. Let me the curtains
draw. Where art thou? [Unlocks the door] [Enter EMILIA] What's the matter
with thee now?
Emilia. O, my good lord, yonder's foul murders done!
Othello. What, now?
Emilia. But now, my lord.
Desdemona. O, falsely, falsely murder'd!
Emilia. Alas, what cry is that?
Othello. That! what?
Emilia. Out, and alas! that was my lady's voice. Help! help, ho! help! O lady, speak
again! Sweet Desdemona! O sweet mistress, speak!
Desdemona. A guiltless death I die.
Emilia. O, who hath done this deed?
Desdemona. Nobody; I myself. Farewell
COMMEND ME TO MY KIND LORD: O, farewell! [Dies]
Emilia; O insupportable! O heavy hour! Methinks it should be now a huge eclipse
Of sun and moon, and that the affrighted globe Should yawn at alteration.

Clown PART 3; ROMEO AND JULIET; JULIET AS MARY THE ANNUNCIATION

SCENE
A room in Capulet's house. Wife Capulet is wearing red and green (the colors of
Saint Anne, the mother of the Virgin Mary). Every time the highlighted word

17
‘marry’ or its analogs is used, Juliet gives a very visible start as if being called by
name. Could the Nurse have angel wings?

Enter Nurse. Wife changes the Calendar which now says it is St Anne’s Day. Then
she begins ostentatiously looking for someone, using mannered gestures, and
calls the nurse to her. Juliet is wearing Lady-birds on her clothes, the symbol of
the virgin Mary—but not her Blue and Whte. . (The Virgin Mary in early paintings
is seen wearing a red cloak; the seven spots on the ladybird bug are symbolic of
the seven joys and seven sorrows of Mary).

Clown: A Reading from the Protevangelium of James according to the Golden Legend.
And after she was weaned, Mary was in the temple of the Lord as if she were a dove
that dwelt there. They brought her to dwell in the Temple at the age of three years, after
she had accomplished sucking. And she danced with her feet and mounted up the steep
steps without any help. And in the fourteenth year of her age it was commanded that she
should be married.
Wife Where's my daughter? Nurse ! [ Good Angelica] call her forth to me
Nurse. Now, by my Maidenhead---at twelue yeare old---I bad her come,
what Lamb: what Ladi-bird, God forbid,
Where's this Girle? what Iuliet?
Enter Iuliet like a Ladi-bird, a symbol of the Virgin Mary
Iuliet. How now, who calls?
Nurse. Your Mother
Juliet. Madam I am heere, what is your will?
(Wife sits Juliet down on the chair)
Wife. This is the matter: Nurse give me leave awhile, we
must talke in secret.
(nurse begins to exit)
Nurse, come backe againe, I haue remembred
me, thou'se heare our counsell. Thou knowest
my daughter's of a pretty age?
Nurse. Faith I can tell her age unto an houre
Wife. Shee's not four-teene (counts on fingers)
Nurse. I’le lay four-teene of my teeth,
And yet to my teene be it spoken,
(I haue but four), shee's not fourteene.
How long is it now to Lammas tide?
Wife A fortnight and odde dayes
Nurse; I remember it well. 'Tis since the Earth-quake now
eleuen yeares, and she was wean'd I neuer shall forget it,
of all the daies of the yeare, vpon that day

18
 PLAY WITHIN THE PLAY
WEANING OF MARY AT 3 YEARS OLD; IN THE TEMPLE
Wife goes and sits in Audience,
Nurse : for I had then
laid Worme-wood to my Dug sitting in the Sunne vnder
the Douehouse wall, my Lord and you were then at
Mantua, (nay I doe beare a braine). But as I said, when it
did tast the Worme-wood on the nipple of my Dugge,
and felt it bitter, pretty foole, to see it tetchy, and fall out
with the Dugge,
( Juliet throw paper planes/doves around the stage to indicate the doves
escaping)
“ Shake” quoth the Doue-house---------
'twas no neede I trow to bid mee trudge----
and since that time it is
a eleuen yeares, for then she could stand alone,
nay by' th' Roode , (Nurse genuflects)
she could haue runne, & wadled all about:
for euen the day before she broke her BROW,

Wife; has been sitting in the audience and now tries to enter the frame
Enough of this, I pray thee; hold thy PEACE-----
Clown; TABLEAU OF THE ANNUNCIATION TO MARY
(The actors now create a tableau of the passage in the Gospels when an angel
told her she would get pregnant and bear Jesus).

The Nurse may have wings and wear a shirt that says Angelica, the root of the Holy
Ghost aka Archangel root. On the first Susan word Nurse pulls down the Lily as if from
the sky in a sweeping angelic gesture and forces it onto Juliet. On the lily are written in
large letters that the word Susannah means Lily in Hebrew. Juliet holds on to it like a
toy, angrily. On the ‘with God’ words the Wife (Saint Anne) displays another sign ‘ WITH
GOD in Hebrew = Emmanuel = Jesus] ; Book of Isaiah 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself
will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call
His name Emmanuel’. She places the sign at Juliet’s feet and the tableau is static. But
Juliet wants to refuse.

Lily

Nurse. PEACE! I haue done

Even or odde, of all daies in the yeare
come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteene.
Susan & she, were of an age. God rest all Christian soules,

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 Susan…… is with God, (angelic voice)
[Susan] was too good for me.
But as I said, on Lamas Eue at night
shall she be fourteene,
that shall she, Marie,

Wife and Nurse stand either side in a tableau and wrap Juliet in Blue and White. .
Nurse kneels like an angel to give Juliet her ‘grace’. This is equivalent to when the
angel addresses Mary in Gospel of Luke 1;28 ’Hail full of grace’.
Nurse: God marke thee to His Grace.
Thou wast the prettiest Babe that ere I nurst, and I might
liue to see thee married once, I haue my wish.
Wife Marry that marry is the very theme
I came to talke of, tell me daughter Iuliet,
How stands your disposition to be Married?
Iuliet. It is an hour that I dreame not of (she struggles to take off the white and blue)
Nurse. An houre, were I not thine onely Nurse, I would
say thou had'st suckt wisedome from thy teat
Wife. Well thinke of marriage now, yonger then you
Heere in Verona, Ladies of esteeme,
Are made already Mothers.

END/ CONCLUSION

FURTHER READING
BRUNN, Erik. ‘ As your daughter may conceive’ Hamlet Studies vol 15. (1993) 93-99.
CHAPMAN, Alison A. ‘Ophelia’s ‘Old Lauds’; Madness and Hagiography in Hamlet’ in
(ed) S.P. Cerasano Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England vol. 20 (2007)111-
135.
HASSEL, R. Chris , “Painted Women: Annunciation Motifs in Hamlet.” Comparative
Drama volue 32 (1998): 47-84.
HOFF, Linda Kay. Hamlet’s Choice; A Reformation Allegory Lewiston; E.Mellon Press
(1988).
HUNT, Maurice ‘Impregnating Ophelia’ Neophilologus vol. 89 (2005) 641-63
NEWMAN, Lucile. ‘Ophelia’s Herbal’ Economic Botany vol. 33, 2 (1979) 227-32.
SOHMER, Steve. ‘Certain Speculations on Hamlet, the calendar and Martin Luther’
Early Modern Literary Studies 2.1 (1996): 5.1-5
SOHMER, Steve .’The "Double Time" Crux in Othello Solved’ English Literary
Renaissance Volume 32 Issue 2, (2002) 214 – 238.
SOHMER, Steve ‘Shakespeare's Time-Riddles in Romeo and Juliet Solved’ English
Literary Renaissance Volume 35 Issue 3, (2005) 407 – 428.

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