Anatomy theater libretto

anatomy theater Libretto by Mark Dion and David Lang 1. recitative and aria: The Confession of Sarah Osborne
 (the prisoner SARAH OSBORNE is onstage as the opera begins, with a noose around her neck) SARAH OSBORNE I, Sarah Osborne, having slaughtered my husband and two children, and wishing to make known the motives which led me to this deed do come before you, on bended knees to confess. Neighbors and good Christians, open your ears to the dreadful misfortune that hath befallen me, and hearing my words let pity move your hearts. I shall now recount how I resolved to commit this crime, what my thoughts were, and what was my intention. I shall also tell what went on in my mind after doing this deed, and detail the miserable life I led.

At the age of fifteen, I began my career of wickedness by improper connection with my mother's husband, he not being my natural father. He was a wanton rascal, often drunken, and in this state did overpower me. I took to bedding him to avoid beatings.

Soon I too began to frequently find myself in the condition of intoxication, to which shameful vice I attribute my wretched slide into degenerate life. I confess that I have been very wild and ungrateful. After my cruel mother closed the door to me, I was forced to make my way on the streets.

Having become addicted to drink, living in open as a harlot, associating with abandoned characters, I became a person most hardened.

At this low time I did meet John Sadler, who did wed me and pimp for me.

Now I see him as the cause of my overthrow, but when we met he seemed the only kind person I had encountered in my wretched life. With him I trifled away the hours, the days, the months and years.

We had two children.

Even while walking the streets I became warmer and softer, while John became colder and harder. The more tender I, the more cruel he became.

He took to beating me, beating me, and sent me with more haste to the streets. This way I was cheated of my life. (spoken) My love for him turned to contempt and I did meditate the most dreadful revenge on the monster, and made the horrid resolution of murdering him. I did devise to make him drunken, although he always treated me abusively when in this state.

As he drank I added laudanum to his gin and soon he was overcome. I extinguished him by suffocation, once drunken I placed myself on his body and did hold a pillow over his mouth and nose. The deed done I looked up, only to spy my babes watching with wide eyes. I comforted them, put them back to bed and smothered each in turn. (sung) That is the explanation of the crime. I await the fate which is destined for me. I doubt not that when the thread of life shall be cut, my soul will be received into that Glory which no tongue can express. The Lord hath wrought great works and been merciful, but if my Lord and Savior will be so cruel to me as men and women have been, I had better burn in the flames of Hell.

Farewell to all present. (the prisoner SARAH OSBORNE is hanged by the neck until dead.)

JOSHUA CROUCH (spoken) My fine fellow citizens, has there ever been such a wondrous and spectacular public execution? I've not seen such numbers for a lethal demonstration, or should I say, entertainment. The hanging of a woman is uncommon indeed and while the killing of a husband is familiar enough, double infanticide, now that brings in the crowd.

Friends! Justice is delivered.

Don’t you feel safe now, knowing the soul of this murderess of innocents is on a speedy descent to hell? Won’t you sleep better tonight in the security of a world with one less beating evil heart?

We are not yet done with the wretched murderess Sarah Osborne. We will, quite literally, be seeing more of her. It has been decreed that the body of this criminal is to be subject to an anatomy demonstration. Thus some moral profit may be gained from her corrupt body, in the form of knowledge obtained. I daresay some private profit as well, since the site of her dissection is my very own establishment.

Distinguished men will be there – barbers, artists, and young scholars of the medical arts. Maybe some of you among them, in which case, have your money ready. The rest of you - ruffians, low-prostitutes, thieves, vagabonds and the penniless - leave the shadow of the gallows and return to your mischief, educated, I hope, by what has transpired in this place. For this grisly expression of the law is not so much to avenge past crime as to prevent its recurrence.

Or is it about something else altogether?

accordion texts JOSHUA CROUCH I saw your upturned faces from the scaffold, not filled with anguish and grief, but with a brutal mirth and callousness, signifying satisfaction.

More laughs than sobs where emitted from this audience. 
Special coaches have transported the masses to this damnable spot.

Not a single vacant room can be secured in any of the town's hotels or hostelries, for any price.

I've rarely witnessed such pubic exuberance for the expression of common justice.

Or is it something else that has urged you here?

From this crowd I witness no sorrow, no salutary terror, no abhorrence, no seriousness; nothing by ribaldry, debauchery, levity, drunkenness, and flaunting vice in fifty other shapes. Not that I am complaining. It is good for business.

You heard her, the murderess Sarah Osborne, she made a complete and detailed confession of her crimes, not given without a generous amount of corporal persuasion, I'd wager.

And you good citizens, you bloodthirsty gawkers, heard her excuses and defiance. Not one soul here cried out "Mercy".

I would have never imagined so many lawful enthusiasts of the solemn application
of justice, unless of course you are here for some other reasonthe wicked pleasure of witnessing a life extinguished. No, it could not be that, could it?

Is that why came to witness this vile woman dangle from the rope? Or was it something else?

The retribution and torment of the wretched murderess Sarah Osborne, which began with her arrest (or perhaps on her day of birth), has not ceased with her finding the end of gibbet. Between the noose and eternal tribulations of damnation, there remains one more earthly humiliation. We are not done with Mrs Osborne yet.

I hope you can keep your stomachs for what comes next.

2. aria: Good morrow and Welcome
 (we are now in the operating theater. the caretaker JOSHUA CROUCH enters. we see the outline of the body of SARAH OSBORNE under a sheet or shroud.)

JOSHUA CROUCH Good morrow and welcome to you young gentlemen. Gentlemen. Welcome young masters. Come in, and quickly be seated, gentlemen. So many fresh faces, so many new monsters, gentlemen. From the looks of this crowd one would guess that the city is populated with nothing but future surgeons, physicians, dentists, barbers, artists, sculptors. Or should I just say rascals and charlatans?

I can't say I care who you are just as long as you have paid. Gentlemen.

Gentlemen.

But today is a special day. Today is a special day. La la la la la la la la la la.

No doubt you’ve marked the dear and extra cost of entrance to the dissection theater. We have a corpse, a fresh corpse, for anatomizing. Not two hours ago this heart was beating. It's still warm, on the inside I'd wager.

But the best thing of all is it's legal, direct from the gallows. Hanged by the neck and brought by the sheriff. Still has its teeth (for now at least). And..... it's a woman. Gentlemen.

The corpse is a she - a right proper murderess. It is not often that we get a young and healthy female in here. A child is six shillings for the first foot and nine pence for each inch for all it measures more in length. But for such a fresh quality female, I seen the price go as high as twenty.

But this body I tell you is so fresh and lovely that I would not dare to leave it alone with you, gentlemen. (the shroud is removed, revealing the body of SARAH OSBORNE, with the noose still attached)

She looks like an angel, so lovely and pure. But in life it was not so. Her heart is darker than the blackest dye. (spoken)
 Gentlemen, I assure you this woman was guilty of the most heinous of crimes. She was also guilty of being poor and desperate, and when all is said, we must admit that part of her crime was being born a woman. From the day she was born, men lorded over her. They put he to work, they put her in her place, they harassed her and violated her, and they put her to death. No matter. We are not done with her yet. Now, gentlemen, we have an eminent visiting scholar - Baron Peel. He is a distinguished anatomist of talent and experience. They say he performed a vivisection on the family dog as a boy of eleven. They say, that he is so practiced that two out of three graves in his home province lie empty. They say that he dissected his own father, sister and still born child. Post mortem, of course.

Gentlemen - Dr. Peel. (claps) (BARON PEEL enters, slowly and pompously. his assistant AMBROSE STRANG enters behind him carrying a tray of surgical instruments.)

3. aria: Man seeks to know BARON PEEL Man seeks to know the truth, about himself, how all his parts make up his whole.
Inside a man you can see the kind of life that he led. An upright man who's strong and steady, who works hard, who remembers the Lord who gave him his life - the humors of such a man run clear and pure. The organs of such a man show not a sign of corruption.

This woman here did not lead an upright existence. She cared for no one.

She thought of no one's pleasure but her own. When we shall cut this woman open we will see that inside her are all of the signs of a wasted life.

Her punishment is to reveal to science the good that she can only show us with her death.

(shouts:) Mr. Strang! (the assistant AMBROSE STRANG runs up beside PEEL and sets down the table with the surgical instruments)

4. duet, then trio: Presently I Shall Reveal BARON PEEL, and AMBROSE STRANG Presently I shall reveal and explicate the instruments necessary for our demonstration.

Presently I shall reveal. (Presently he shall reveal.)

Revealing the array instruments and appliances for an anatomy is rather different from doing so before a surgery, in that we can and have no fear that our subject will suddenly jump off the table and bolt off, as so often happens in the operation theatre.

BARON PEEL, AMBROSE STRANG, and JOSHUA CROUCH Presently I shall reveal Presently he shall He shall reveal

5. trio: The instruments / Where is Evil?

BARON PEEL, AMBROSE STRANG, and JOSHUA CROUCH The instruments commonly required for a practical anatomy are fifteen in number. They are: the knife, the scissors, the hook, the needle, the blowpipe, the probe, the bellow, an elevator, bone saws, chisels and mallet, bone nippers, a whetstone, and various sponges.

These instruments are required.

BARON PEEL The knife is the paragon of instruments The knife is a key The knife is the key To the temple of the Lord our god.

The knife is the key.

It is the knife that makes our art possible It is the knife that opens the body That penetrates the flesh That serves the eye It is the knife BARON PEEL, AMBROSE STRANG, and JOSHUA CROUCH The knife must be an extension of the anatomist.

It must embody his hand and will.

The knife must feel with the sensitivity of his fingertips, and see with the acumen of his attentive eye.

As in love, it is sweeter to penetrate the flesh with tenderness than with force.

As in love, it is sweeter to penetrate the flesh with tenderness than with force.

As in love, it is sweeter to penetrate the flesh with tenderness than with force.

5a. aria: Where is evil?

BARON PEEL Where is evil?

Where is evil?

It is with you.

It is in you.

In your body.

In your features.

You can't hide it.

You can't stop it.

There. There it is. There it is.

(Peel plunges the knife into the cadaver, and time appears to stop)

6. instrumental: Cut

7. aria, with spoken interjections: Gentlemen, we have before us BARON PEEL Gentlemen, we have before us a fresh and exemplary body.

This façade of flesh, this empty jewel box, this discarded husk, has been vacated by the evil soul that dwelled therein, which doubtlessly is on a speedy descent to the torture chambers of Hell.

Evil must have left its spoor somewhere, and detection of treachery is the purpose of this demonstration.

This woman’s depravity not evident on her figure must be conspicuous beneath her skin.

Satan always leaves a footprint.

Mr. Strang’s first incision has cut from the diaphragm to the pubis, thus revealing the intestines.

The intestines hold no significance for our demonstration, they are merely the conduit for filth.

Rather, it is the stomach where we shall first apply our gaze.

Each part of the animal is unique unto itself and ruled by its own distinctive organization, which corresponds to the realms of heaven and earth.

Thus the microcosm and the macrocosm are united.

Within the body of a vital being nothing is still or inert.

If attentive, we can perceive life’s flow within us.

Nowhere is this more manifest than in the pouch-like receptacle called the stomach.

The stomach is of the fiery realm of Vulcan – the heat beneath earth’s mantle.

The stomach speaks – it is the realm of all our appetites; lets us know when we need food, tells us the hour of the day, it acknowledges the presence of evil by indignation causing us to vomit poison in the face of illness and trauma It pulverizes ingested food like a mill and ferments juice like a brewer’s vat.

Like a wine press the stomach squeezes out precious fluid, cooks it in heat and sends energy to the heart and limbs.

While the dregs are conveyed down.

The meat is stripped of power and turned to excrement.

On many a hanged man’s stomach I have discovered cankerous ulcers, open drooling sores and raw wounds, which doth bespeak foul deeds and desperate conduct with the certainty of confession.

Mr. Strang, do you have the stomach?

AMBROSE STRANG (spoken) I have it, honorable Doctor. The stomach has been extracted.

BARON PEEL (spoken) Mr Strang, would you kindly examine the organ’s exterior and then bisect it and scrutinize its interior countenance.

(Strang slices through the stomach, which spills a filthy liquid with chunks in it over the floors. There is the sound of gas escaping, he winces.)

AMBROSE STRANG (spoken)

While the gas and fluid are most detestable – it is normal. The color, texture and surface betray no scarring, disfigurement or grotesque appearance. It is normal.

I estimate the weight to be eight ounces. It is a perfect stomach.

BARON PEEL Gentlemen, to discover nothing at all may be the more telling than to have found something of import.

I assure you evil is within this viscera.

We can conclude that evil doth not dwell in the stomach of this criminal.

Therefore we shall turn to a more probable organ.

The spleen.

The insidious part within us all which doth produce black bile and thus is naturally the house of melancholy, of moodiness, wrath and gloom.

Gentlemen of honorable ambition – Its function is to produce and regulate black bile, the darkest of all the humors.

Why should the body require production of fluid so caustic and pernicious?

For the sake of regulation and balance.

The body itself is a system – each part does complement all others in equilibrium We must be on guard against bodily excesses.

These can be remedied by purgings or bleedings.

A person is a system of perfect regulation.

But what about an unhealthy soul?

Is there sign of evil here?

Squeeze it, Strang, and tell us what you find.

AMBROSE STRANG (spoken)

Sir, I have had a most intimate interrogation of the spleen and find it without malady of any kind.

BARON PEEL Fear not, Gentlemen of high moral worth, Our quest is far from over, all aspects of the human body interrelate, and illness of the whole is the manifestation of dysfunction in the part.

The body has four fluids known as the humors, and no less.

The blood which is hot and wet is produced in our beating hearts, yellow bile, dry and hot, and made in the liver, cold wet phlegm housed in the brain and the black bile of the spleen, correspond to the elements Fire, Air, Earth and Water for the body is made as ‘world in miniature,’ in each part we discover the whole.

The blood is fire, it enlivens the spirit.

Let us once more breach the fortifications of this body to bring forth the chest’s riches.

Remove the murderess’ heart for a thorough examination.

Hold it up so all may see it.

The heart is the chief mansion of the soul, the origin of our moral behavior. the first living aspect of man and the last to die Strang – hold it up!

(Strang removes the heart, holds it up, and time stops.)

8. interlude: Some Very Strange Light AMBROSE STRANG

Clearly there is evil here But not in this unblemished heart In each of us there are two parts The body and the soul If this body be without defect Evil must be in the soul I fear we are cutting in the wrong place For evil look to the soul (Strang examines the heart, weighs it, measures it, cuts it open, etc..)

9. aria, with spoken conclusion: My Heart SARAH OSBORNE My heart. My heart.

This is the heart that loved my children This is the heart that in my youth was open That was betrayed and broken.

How can you know the love that was within it by looking at it cleaved asunder?

AMBROSE STRANG (spoken) The heart in my hand weighs 271 grams, no less. It is firm and utterly unblemished and without corruption. It is a pump, most exquisite.

BARON PEEL (spoken) NO! Each part has a function, true, but each function has a meaning.

A body is a divine text and as anatomists we are charged with its reading.

We must elucidate the working of the Creator, or as in this case we must unmask the mischief of the Deceiver.

Science and faith are in accord in our grander view of creation.

The acceptance of the supernatural in the body is something more than the result of an act of deliberate reason. It is an act of faith which owes its origins to a supernatural gift of God, by which the will accepts what is revealed in the heart. (sounding perplexed) Before us is the heart of a soul twisted and most foul, yet its aspect is one of health and strength and betrays not the virulent temperament of a murderess of children. Where is this evil lodged?

10. aria, with spoken interjections: Gentlemen, we have yet failed BARON PEEL Gentlemen, we have yet failed to reveal the canker of evil within this mortal vessel, but fear not, we shall ascertain it yet.

One lair remains which may harbor the spoor of malignancy – the uterus.

I have anatomized many females and have established that it is an organ much influenced by the moon and seasons.

Thus for our last demonstration we will turn our gaze to this dark part which so deeply influences the female countenance.

It seems only right and true to seek the blush of evil here, since it was woman who introduced evil unto the world.

This certainly is the body’s least governable organ, filled with animal vitality – the very seat of hysteria.

The womb, like any animal, possesses an appetite most rapacious.

Indeed, you can hear it rumble and growl as it roams about the body The uterus is the fertile field in which man’s seed doth grow.

We all share our origin therein, however, we must recall this organ is ruled by hot blood.

What do you find Strang? Is it unwholesome?

AMBROSE STRANG (spoken)

It is an object of wonder, yet not unnatural in any aspect. See, Gentlemen, the walls of the uterian chamber are half an inch thick and quite firm in consistence. They are composed of non-striped muscle mingled with fibers which can stretch. They are lined with a membrane of a mucous film. There is nothing abnormal herein.

BARON PEEL (spoken) My fine Gentlemen, do not despair that our dissection has come to an end and we have as yet failed to find the elusive mark of the devil. Be not disheartened for we have gained much knowledge. We know now where evil is not, and at the break of day we shall renew our distinguished hunt, if not in this subject then in some other. One should not lose sight that necropsy is the foundation of our knowledge of the nature of man. Thus all criminals who are subject to being anatomized after death do in some way advance the greater social cause. Imagine Gentlemen if we good citizens of science were allowed to investigate murderers and thieves before they were hanged. Imagine how noble their contribution would be.

11. quartet: Where is Evil (Reprise) BARON PEEL Where is evil?

Where is evil?

It is with you.

It is in you.

In your body.

In your features.

You can't hide it.

You can't stop it.

Where is evil?

Where is evil?

It is within you.

It is inside you.

You can see it.

You can touch it with your hand.

You can squeeze it Between your fingers.

There. There it is. There it is.

Where is evil?

Where is evil?

Look around you.

Look beside you It is hiding in the person next to you It is waiting waiting for you You can't stop it It will find you.

There. There it is. There it is.

AMBROSE STRANG Where is evil?

Where is it?

It is in you.

It is inside you.

Find the defect Find the part that’s broken or grotesque, Within the minds of evildoers.

Where is evil?

Where is it?

It is within you.

It is inside you.

To seek wisdom We must dissect the source of evil.

Where is evil?

Where is it?

Let us search inside us all Let us try to see the evil that ferments within us and is practiced by our own hands SARAH OSBORNE Where is evil?

Where is evil?

You looked inside me And failed to see The hunger that was Felt therein Take my eyes Take my Take my lips Take my Take my hands Take my Take my heart Where is evil?

Where is evil?

Let us search inside us all Let us try to see the evil that is all around us and is practiced by our own hands

JOSHUA CROUCH Where is evil?

Where is evil?

It is within you.

It is inside you.

You can see it.

You can touch it with your hand.

You can squeeze it Between your fingers.

Where is evil?

Where is evil?

Look around you.

Look beside you It is hiding in the person next to you It is waiting waiting for you You can't stop it It will find you.

12. closing aria: Too Bad The Doctor JOSHUA CROUCH too bad the doctor didn’t find anything peculiar in this woman don’t think that will stop him from looking for it do you? Gentlemen? but we all knows it – cutting up criminals is just a way to punish them beyond the grave, not that I give a damn, gentlemen.

I know why most of you are still here You want further inspection of them parts that have been removed – and those that haven’t yet been removed – you ripe crop of ghouls As usual you can meet me by the back gate Let’s have ourselves a little auction, under the moonlight and have your money ready, gentlemen Goodnight, fine gentlemen, goodnight.