Filming The Book of Margery Kempe
Testing a new camera in our home studio in 2019, Luke and I decided to film a series of historical talking heads. I wrapped up in a white bed sheet and read aloud some of Margery’s work to camera. Struck by the peculiar, idiosyncratic magnetism of her words and unaware of any other screen portrayals of Margery, she became the first and last in our historical series.
Furloughed in the winter months of the 2020 lockdown, we finished a full-length screenplay based on her book and decided to shoot parts of it ourselves to make a short film. As friends and colleagues from the world of commercial film and theatre became more involved and our production values developed, our producer Harry suggested we shoot the whole screenplay and make a no-budget feature for festival submission.
Working on weekends, with an ever expanding cast and crew of volunteers, we transformed our old studio into a full-scale C14 mediaeval bedroom, the vegetable patch into a mediaeval urban courtyard, and even secured a nearby C12 Norman church for scene where Margery is propositioned on her way to Evensong on St Margaret’s Eve. And after a climactic scene filming Margery’s spiritual, erotic visions of Jesus, we will be heading out to shoot the final scenes on location around Norfolk in early 2024.
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This page was last updated on 30 June 2024
