John Clare: "I Am"
1970A 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)
Acted in
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