RETURN TO HOME PAGE TOUR DATES ‘ …poetic, moving, at times visceral, and always richly satisfying due, in no small part to the energised performance of David Keller who, as the tormented poet is both manic and vulnerable. The writing is fluid, colourful and beautifully descriptive and the production makes good use of the space… This is a vital and exciting piece of theatre, illuminating Clare’s life in a way that is engaging and relevant. ****Three Weeks, Edinburgh 2002 ‘ a vibrant, piercing cry of pain’ The Independent
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| Born in rural poverty in 1793, poet John Clare shot to fame
as a young man (he shared the same publisher as Keats) but lived the
second half of his life under the shadow of mental illness. Literary
rejection, the enclosure of his native Northamptonshire landscape and an
increasingly consuming obsession with his two ‘wives’ combined to fracture
his sanity, and he spent the last twenty-five years of his life in
institutions. In 1841, he escaped from an asylum in Epping Forest and made
his way home on foot. This harrowing journey – Clare was reduced to eating
grass - forms the basis of Simon Rae’s radical new play.
The decision to place Clare against a backdrop of foot and mouth, set aside and environmental protest makes for an innovative and challenging piece of contemporary theatre. Rae’s Clare is politically and sexually provocative, and David Keller’s inspired performance brings out all the danger, humour, and haunting pathos of a brilliant mind at the end of its tether.
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