An evening lecture in partnership with the St John Historical Society.

At the start of the English Civil War two sisters, Elizabeth Brackley and Jane Cavendish, wrote the first female-authored city comedy, The Concealed Fancies. During the war they were exiled in Nottinghamshire, but they imagined themselves back in London with all the delights that pre-war Clerkenwell and the city could offer. The play is set in Newcastle House, Clerkenwell Close, which their father, William Cavendish, had purchased around 1628 and was originally the site of St Mary’s Nunnery; it was demolished in the 1790s. The talk explores how the sisters used the play to recreate their home, although sadly it was a world to which they would never return.

Professor Marion Wynne-Davies holds the Chair of English Literature in the School of Literature and Languages at the University of Surrey. Her main areas of interest are Early Modern literature, Shakespeare and women’s writing. She has published two editions of primary material, Renaissance Drama by Women: Texts and Documents (with S.P. Cerasano) and Women Poets of the Renaissance, as well as several collections of essays in the same field. She has written four monographs, Women and Arthurian Literature, Sidney to Milton, Women Writers of the English Renaissance: Familial Discourse and Margaret Atwood.

Tickets are free and must be pre-booked via the Museum’s Eventbrite page. Donations welcome if you can.

This event will take place in the historic Chapter Hall at St John’s Gate, accessible by stairs only. There is a lift which reduces the number of stairs guests need to ascend. For more information on access please visit our access pages here, or email museum@sja.org.uk