Dirty Mary

(Or the gospel according to MaryMagdalen...) The stage space is framed by orange drapes, backed by a largevideo projection screen, above which there are three neon symbols : thesymbol for woman, a heart, and a cross. A close-up of a woman's face, withthe word 'Dirty' painted across one cheek, is seen. A woman's voice isheard telling us how she acquired the name Dirty Mary - she had gone tofor the goddess "purifying men", and now, having returned to Galilee, shesings for money. After brief mention of a first meeting with Jesus, a womanperformer becomes visible.
She takes up a position sitting on the floor in a pool of light, annointingher feet with oils, while this is relayed (in close-up) by live-feed videoonto the screen. With a mix of rock music and Middle-Eastern music andchanting, video imagery of Middle-Eastern landscapes, crucifixes, and similarof the gospels, in which Mary Magdalen and Jesus are lovers and some ofhis famous miracles (including his own resurrection) are unmasked and Judasis the only good disciple. She tells of how her own brother and sister (Lazarus and Martha) turnedagainst her because of her spell in Alexandria, but how she won Jesus'love through annointing his feet with oils, how he treated her as an equal,not an outcast, and how this aroused the jealousy of his other followers."He was the most exciting man I ever met... he was a true rebel... andI loved him.... I didn't follow him because he said he was the son of god,I loved him"
She talks of them wandering around Galilee, an ever growing band ofwould-be revolutionaries, under surveillance by the Pharisees, with Judaspeople believed Jesus was casting out the demons from her while she layon the ground writhing. Theraising of Lazarus from the dead was in fact all a misreporting of heruse of poultices and incantations to revive him when he was seriously illfrom the effects of long-term drinking. The miracle of the loaves and fishesrested simply on an incident in which Jesus organised a restless crowdof 5,000 to pool their food and share it out fairly. And Jesus made Judastell the pharisees where he was the night of his arrest in Gethsemane,out of his desire for martyrdom, despite Mary's pleading with him to escapeto Egypt.
Giving an account of the crucifixion, she tells of giving Christ asedative (in the wet rag which a soldier gives him to quench his thirst);with the guards fooled into believing he was dead after they speared himfor burial; in fact, she usessimilar poultices to those she had used on Lazarus, leaving him in thetomb for three days to recuperate. When he re-appears he ignores her pleasto escape with her and insists on going off to see the disciples. Havingwaited forty days and nights in the desert, she finally gives up hope ofseeing him again : "You were the only one I ever loved, but you desertedme... How did you expect me to carry on?.... So, what was the truth? Youlaways wanted me to believe you were the son of god and I refused. Thenyou gave me no choice. I had to believe it. I had to believe that you diedon the cross and were resurrected, and then took your place by your father,that you are with me now and you always will be with me. I believe it becausethe thought that you were a man and that you left me is too much for meto bear."