John Clare: "I Am"

John Clare: "I Am" (1970)

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)

Director: David Jones

Casts

	Freddie Jones as John Clare
	Gerald Lawson as Parker, Clare's Father
	Elizabeth Croft as Anne, Clare's Mother
	Martin Howells as Young Clare
	Sharon Gurney as Mary Joyce
	Jenny Heslewood as Patty Clare
	Jonathan Dennis as Marquis of Exeter
	Brian Tully as Taylor, Clare's Publisher
	Patrick Stewart as Cyrus Redding
	Patrick Godfrey as WF Knight
	Stanley Lebor as Shylock
	Mary Griffiths as Schoolteacher
	Betty Turner as Granny Bains
	Alan Stuart as Mr Drury
	Philip Garston-Jones as Mr Newcombe
	John Hart Dyke as Dr Allen
	Cameron Miller as Dr Skrimshire
	Penelope Keith as Agnes Strickland
	Tony Church as Narrator

Crew