John Clare: "I Am"

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A film biography by David Jones with Freddie Jones as John Clare "I am - yet what I am, none cares or knows" (John Clare) John Clare (1792-1864), farm labourer, had three obsessions: his youthful love for Mary Joyce, the countryside of his native Northamptonshire, and the need to celebrate both in his poetry. Clare cracked under the increasing strain of poverty and neglect, and spent the last 23 years of his life in Northampton General Lunatic Asylum. He imagined himself to be Lord Byron, a bigamist, and a prize-fighter; but the poems of his madness are perhaps the most remarkable he ever wrote. "Clare's asylum foretells our need for an asylum, his deprivation foretells our deprivation" (Geoffrey Grigson) Commentary spoken by Tony Church (from BBC Midlands) (David Jones and Patrick Stewart are members of the Royal Shakespeare Company; Tony Church appears by permission of the Northcott Theatre, Exeter)

Cast

F Freddie JonesJohn Clare G Gerald LawsonParker, Clare's Father E Elizabeth CroftAnne, Clare's Mother M Martin HowellsYoung Clare S Sharon GurneyMary Joyce J Jenny HeslewoodPatty Clare J Jonathan DennisMarquis of Exeter B Brian TullyTaylor, Clare's Publisher P Patrick StewartCyrus Redding P Patrick GodfreyWF Knight S Stanley LeborShylock M Mary GriffithsSchoolteacher

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B Betty TurnerGranny Bains A Alan StuartMr Drury P Philip Garston-JonesMr Newcombe J John Hart DykeDr Allen C Cameron MillerDr Skrimshire P Penelope KeithAgnes Strickland T Tony ChurchNarrator