On the undeath of that criminal queen
(with Nell Osborne)
Cynethryth was the Queen of Mercia, one of the seven kingdoms of Anglo-Saxon England, over 1200 years ago. Much of what we know of her life is derived from the Vitae Offarum Duorum or The Lives of the Two Offas, a thirteenth century manuscript. Three versions of The Lives of the Two Offas manuscript exist. Reproduced by hand in the St Alban's scriptorium, mutations occurred throughout its laborious textual reproduction. One version is written entirely without punctuation, one with pedantic marginalia, whilst only one of the versions includes illustrations. These texts are one of the very few extant historical artefacts we have about Cynethryth's life and she is almost wholly absent.
As a part of the I'd Do This All Day If I Could series of reading-based performances at PEER, Carl Gent and Nell Osborne presented a live recitation, annotation, erasure and re-publication of a chapter from The Lives of the Two Offas.
On the undeath of that criminal queen
(with Nell Osborne)
2017
Live recital, amendment, publication and dissemination of a chapter of the Vitae Offarum Duorum using erasure, annotation, marginalia and staining with printer/photocopier, correction fluid, pens, stapler, pencil and river silt