Emilia

<p>'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.' <i>EVENING STANDARD</i> <p/>'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.' <i>GUARDIAN</i> <p/>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. <p/>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. <p/> Originally commissioned for Shakespeare's Globe with an all-female cast <i>Emilia </i>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.</p>