Emilia

'A spicy work of biographical conjecture . . . It's also a rousing reminder of the countless creative women who have been written out of history or have had to fight relentlessly to make themselves heard.' EVENING STANDARD

'The great virtue of Lloyd Malcolm's speculative history lies in its passion and anger: it ends with a blazing address to the audience that is virtually a call to arms. It is throughout, however, a highly theatrical piece . . . In rescuing Emilia from the shades, [the play] gives her dramatic life and polemical potency.' GUARDIAN

The little we know of Emilia Bassano Lanier (1569 - 1645) is that she may have been the Dark Lady of Shakespeare's Sonnets, mistress of Lord Chamberlain, one of the first English female poets to be published, a mother, teacher who founded a school for women, and radical feminist with North African ancestry.

Living at a time when women had such limited opportunities, Emilia Lanier is therefore a fascinating subject for this speculative history. In telling her story, Morgan Lloyd Malcolm represents the stories of women everywhere whose narratives have been written out of history.

Originally commissioned for Shakespeare's Globe with an all-female cast, Emilia is published here as a Methuen Drama Student Edition with commentary and notes by Elizabeth Schafer, Professor of Drama at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

Chronology
COMMENTARY
CHARACTERS - Historical versus fictional / Emilia Lanier Bassano (1560-1645)
NARRATIVE
PUBLIC HISTORY - Comparative works as diverse as Upstart Crow, Horrible Histories, Downton Abbey, Hamilton and Six in terms of dramatically subverting traditional histories
FEMINISM
AUDIENCE DEMOGRAPHIC
DRAMATIC DEVICES - the 3 Emilias, Brecht, epic theatre, feminist theatre, Shakespeare's history plays, all-female cast
SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE
INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT
PLAY TEXT
FURTHER READING