John Clare: "I Am"

The story

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 & crew

Freddie JonesJohn Clare

Gerald Lawson

Gerald LawsonParker, Clare's Father

Elizabeth Croft

Elizabeth CroftAnne, Clare's Mother

Martin Howells

Martin HowellsYoung Clare

Sharon GurneyMary Joyce

Jenny Heslewood

Jenny HeslewoodPatty Clare

Jonathan Dennis

Jonathan DennisMarquis of Exeter

Brian TullyTaylor, Clare's Publisher

Patrick StewartCyrus Redding

Patrick GodfreyWF Knight

Stanley LeborShylock

Mary Griffiths

Mary GriffithsSchoolteacher