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.- GUARDIANThe 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 speculat