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Mirabilis - a new performance by in situ:

ChristinaBella StewartGuide.Richard SpaulMan with camera..Pete Arnold

Mirabilis was devised by in situ:, and directed by Richard Spaul. Pete Arnoldcreated the sound and video installations.Original music by Robin Bunce, with thanks to Kathie Brown and Lucy Bunce.

About the performanceThis is a multi-focal performance. This means that there may be several differentthings happening at the same time within the performance space, and audiencemembers are free to choose what they watch or listen to. Of course, this entailsmoving around the space, and you are also free to do that. It should be fairly clearwhere we prefer audience members not to go. You may sit down wherever you like,

although being seated does not guarantee a perfect view of any action that may betaking place.Since this is fairly unusual, you may not be entirely sure whats expected of you, sothese few guidelines might help:1. Please try not to talk to each other during the performance, andplease dont talk toany of the performers, even if they seem to be addressing you. In this respect at least,this is a wholly conventional performance that respects the traditional distance

between audience and actor.2. Rest assured that no audience participation is required. You will not be exposed orembarrassed in any way during the performance. You do not have to join in or doanything other than move around the space, taking in whatever interests you.

3. Please leave things as you find them. You are most welcome to examine thingsmore closely, by touching, smelling etc., but please dont try to move, or interferewith, anything, especially candles, speakers and televisions.4. There is no right or wrong place from which to experience the piece - you cango wherever you like. Please co-operate with the performers, however, and be

prepared to move if one of them appears to need the space youre occupying.5. Finally, please do take care. Please dont climb on or over anything, and try not torush around, bearing in mind that the floor surface may not be even throughout.

We hope you enjoy the experience.

About MirabilisWe wanted to make a piece based on the Life of Christina Mirabilis, written byThomas of Cantimpr in 1232, because its powerful imagery seemed to us to already

belong to the world of performance. Reading more closely, there emerged for ussomething that opened out into our own, very contemporary, concerns, the things wethink are important to address through performance.Christina returns from death and finds the world an unbearable place. Her agitatedflights from human society and her extreme behaviour put her on the margins of hersocial world. She performs the suffering of others elsewhere, and, of course, peoplecannot bear to look. She goes too far - crawling into ovens, remaining under freezingwater for long stretches, flying, entering the graves of the dead. This narrative made

us think about our own witness of others suffering, a witness made commonplace,

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even pervasive, through mass media, and primarily through images. What will makeus look? How do we look? How do we respond?These are difficult questions, and Christinas story asks them as assuredly as anycontemporary reportage from a war zone, or disaster, or famine, or half-forgottenenclave of deprivation. It isnt the place of performance, as Christinas example

testifies, to try and provide answers. It can, however, make a space to reflect. This iswhat we have tried to do.We have chosen images from the world of the past, Christinas world, because theyseemed to us to reflect images we still see around us now. Struggling to imagine thelife and world of past people has become an important theme in in situ:s work,

perhaps as a way of acknowledging that it isworkto imagine others, to empathise, toconnect.Christina puts her own body into her performance. In the physical absence of theother world, whose torments she demonstrates, her female body becomes its site.This embodiment makes performance a vivid and immediate means of making

present an other. In Christinas time, people like her were regarded as evidence of

Gods intervention in the world, the presence of the other world folded into ourown. Another, later, and somewhat less flamboyant, mystic, the EnglishwomanJulian of Norwich, puts it that this other world ..is Gods clothing, which for lovewrappeth us.The contemporary world no longer finds evidence of divine intervention so readily.Sometimes it seems there is little enough human intervention. The images from themodern world have been deliberately chosen; most of them are well-known, some arefamiliar. We wanted to find a way of looking at them again.

in situ: July2004Acknowledgements

A project of this scale leaves us huge numbers of people to thank. Some haveprovided invaluable support and skills, making our lives easier; others have simply (!)made the whole thing possible. In the latter category are Kate Weaver and ChloeCockerill, field officers of The Churches Conservation Trust, in whose wonderful

buildings most of these performances are taking place. Our gratitude also to SarahBell, Sebastian Warrack, Jane Wilson, Joanne Gray and Julie Hewitt for their adviceand support. To Janet Cornish and Barry Pearce of the Cambridge PreservationSociety, and the Friends of the Leper Chapel for allowing us to use this atmospheric

place for our Cambridge performances. To Robin Bunce for his enthusiasm as muchas his wonderful music. To Geoff Broad for his generosity and willingness to put hisformidable range of skills at our disposal. To Kate de Buriatte for making costumes.

The Department of Applied Economics for their patient support. The residents ofBrustem and St. Truiden in Flanders, Belgium, especially Danny Gennez, Rudi thejournalist, and the Benaets-Vanweddingen family of Sint Kristinas Straat, Brustem.Special thanks to Jos Neven, the village photographer, who generously allowed us tofilm his amazing photographic archive of local Christina-related celebrations. Manythanks also to Jorge Guzman for photography. Thanks also to Nicole Buijsse forearly encouragement, enthusiasm and practical advice. Finally, our heartfelt thanks toall our faithful front of house people.

Mirabilis is funded by Arts Council England, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk CountyCouncils, and Arts Development East Cambridgeshire (ADeC).