46 LISTENER MARCH 7 2020
A
good number of Shake-
speare’s most formidable
characters were women –
Lady Macbeth, Cordelia in
King Lear, Katherine in The
Taming of the Shrew – but he
always ended up subduing
their spirit by death, madness or marriage.
As demanded by the mores of the
Elizabethan era, his scripts centred on the
male, and all his characters – male and
female – were played by men.
However easily he disposed of his
fictional women, Shakespeare was fixated,
in an ongoing sense, on one in particular,
the “Dark Lady” mentioned in the final
27 of his 154 sonnets, published in 1609.
Writing about her “dun” breasts and
“black wires” growing from her head, his
poetic narrator oscillated between desire
and disgust.
By Sonnet 147, his love had become a
“fever” transmitted by a woman “who art
as black as hell, as dark as night”.
Over the past four centuries, scholars
have argued that the “Dark Lady” was
fictional, loosely reflecting the arrival of
“Moors” in England.
Some, however, such as late-16th-
century astrologer-diarist Simon Forman,
speculated she was based on a real person,
Emilia Bassano, an aspiring writer and
possibly Shakespeare’s lover.
Forman’s “but she was a whore”
stance was reinforced by English
historian AL Rowse in a book
published in 1973.
But the facts are few. Bassano,the daughter of an Italian-born English
court musician, lived from 1569-1645. She
was mistress to Queen Elizabeth’s Lord
Chamberlain, Lord Carey, for five years
and published a volume of Latin poetry in
1611, Hail, God, King of the Jews. Beyond
that, no other records remain.
But those small crumbs of information
have been expanded and reimagined in
London writer Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s
boisterous play Emilia, commissioned for
the Globe Theatre in London in 2017.
Although the Globe’s primary purpose
is to promote the Bard’s works, Emilia was
its first shot at a new, original script. After
the Globe, it moved to an unprecedented
extended season in the West End, at the
Vaudeville Theatre.
Now, Emilia is spreading its wings, with
an international tour opening in Auck-
land’s 700-seat Pop-up Globe in March,
directed by Miriama McDowell. It is also
being adapted for a feature film.
An unflattering version of Shakespeareand a handful of men appear in the play,
but as stipulated in Lloyd Malcolm’s stage
notes, it will be performed by “an all-
female cast [and crew] of diverse women”.
Opening with Emilia reading from
Rowse’s book, then tossing it aside, Lloyd
Malcolm portrays a world unfairly tilted
against women. In defiance of the chal-
lenges, three versions of Emilia magnify
her charisma, representing her at three
ages – sometimes all on stage at the same
time – ranging from seven to 76.
“We were trying to work out how totell a woman’s story who has disappeared
from history,” says Lloyd Malcolm, 39.
“We examined what history plays are
usually like – usually an epic hero’s
journey where you get one fabulous
role for one actor to play the whole
way through.
“We wanted to show Emilia’s whole
life, but in a practical sense, having one
actor to play the ages of seven to 76 is
a tricky thing.
“Also, we wanted to share
it out, to tell the story as a
group effort, an ensemble
piece, and that included
these three Emilias,
remembering herself at
different ages and watch-
ing herself.”Books & Culture
G
ET
TY(^) IM
AG
ES
Outing the Dark Lady
Emilia Bassano, variously described as Shakespeare’s muse and a
whore, is brought to life in a play that has travelled from London’s Globe
Theatre, via the West End, to Auckland’s Pop-up Globe. by LINDA HERRICK
Writing about her “dun”
breasts and “black
wires” growing from her
head, his poetic narrator
oscillated between
desire and disgust.
OPERA • BOOKS • MUSIC • FILM
Emilia writer Morgan Lloyd Malcolm, right,
and Miriama McDowell, who will direct the
play at the Pop-up Globe.