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