Bloody Poetry at Jermyn Street Theatre

Bloody Poetry, by Howard Brenton is at the Jermyn Street Theatre, an off west end venue in central London, from 31 Jan 2012 - 25 Feb 2012.

Directed by Tom Littler, lighting by Tim Mascall, design by Will Reynolds, sound by George Dennis, costumes by Emily Stuart and produced by Primavera in association with Jermyn Street Theatre.

Cast includes David Sturzaker (Byron), Joanna Christie (Claire Clairemont), Joe Bannister (Shelley) Rhiannon Sommers (Mary Shelley), Emily Glenister (Harriet Westbrook) and Nick Trumble (Dr William Polidori).

The Shelleys and Claire Clairemont fled from scandal in London to Lake Geneva, where Claire introduced the Shelleys to her lover, Lord Byron. Byron was already world famous both for his writing and for his love life, including affairs with his sister Augusta and Lady Caroline Lamb. Byron's challenge to the company one evening to recount ghost stories produced Mary Shelley's masterpiece 'Frankenstein'. The convocation also produced Byron's daughter Allegra and cemented a friendship between the two great poets which provided the inspiration for Shelley's 'Mont Blanc', and 'The Mask of Anarchy' and Byron's 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage'.

Originally published on

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