We will be uploading a small piece for your thoughts every week. These may be in the form of video, prayer or a some brief thoughts. If you would like to contribute, you are welcome to send them to the Parish Office at parishoffice@sswsj.org. Please note that we cannot guarantee everyone's submissions will be posted but we will do what we can to share your thoughts.
Wednesday January 25th 2023
Last week Lucy Barker invited me to see her school, The Grey Coat Hospital’s production of “Emilia”. I knew very little about the person the play was based. Luckily Lucy’s mother, Christina, wrote a short piece about her in the program to aid my curiosity. She noted:
Aemilia Lanyer nee Bassano (1569-1645) was perhaps the closest historical woman poet to providing the role model Virginia Woolf sought when she asked to find "Shakespeare's sister." Her magnum opus Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum was printed in 1611 with her name clearly listed on the title page, a first for women's writing. Her version of biblical history has been dubbed proto-feminist, with a good defense of Eve, the Queen of Sheba and Pilate's wife among others. Lanyer was perhaps better known in society circles and as a London poet than Shakespeare would have been. It is ironic, then, that the more established Lanyer was forgotten for centuries (as too many women writers, artists, scientists, etc have been neglected) by critics and historians, only for her to be "rediscovered" by an academic in the 1970s as a possible candidate for the historical inspiration for Shakespeare's Dark Lady. Scholars now think it is highly unlikely that Lanyer could have been the model for the Dark Lady in Shakespeare's sonnets --- the mistress whose eyes are nothing like the sun. But Lanyer did live in the same time and place as Shakespeare and she did seek recognition as a professional writer; a link between the two that has inspired much "bio-fiction" about her, among them Sandra Newman’s novel The Heavens and play you are about to see.
As an academic, I have studied her poetry and marvel at her willingness to ignite religious debate, and applaud her clear address to women both of the past and in her own time. She was an extraordinary woman of her time, and she still has lessons to share with us all.”
Thank you Christina.
Last week Lucy Barker invited me to see her school, The Grey Coat Hospital’s production of “Emilia”. I knew very little about the person the play was based. Luckily Lucy’s mother, Christina, wrote a short piece about her in the program to aid my curiosity. She noted:
Aemilia Lanyer nee Bassano (1569-1645) was perhaps the closest historical woman poet to providing the role model Virginia Woolf sought when she asked to find "Shakespeare's sister." Her magnum opus Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum was printed in 1611 with her name clearly listed on the title page, a first for women's writing. Her version of biblical history has been dubbed proto-feminist, with a good defense of Eve, the Queen of Sheba and Pilate's wife among others. Lanyer was perhaps better known in society circles and as a London poet than Shakespeare would have been. It is ironic, then, that the more established Lanyer was forgotten for centuries (as too many women writers, artists, scientists, etc have been neglected) by critics and historians, only for her to be "rediscovered" by an academic in the 1970s as a possible candidate for the historical inspiration for Shakespeare's Dark Lady. Scholars now think it is highly unlikely that Lanyer could have been the model for the Dark Lady in Shakespeare's sonnets --- the mistress whose eyes are nothing like the sun. But Lanyer did live in the same time and place as Shakespeare and she did seek recognition as a professional writer; a link between the two that has inspired much "bio-fiction" about her, among them Sandra Newman’s novel The Heavens and play you are about to see.
As an academic, I have studied her poetry and marvel at her willingness to ignite religious debate, and applaud her clear address to women both of the past and in her own time. She was an extraordinary woman of her time, and she still has lessons to share with us all.”
Thank you Christina.
How was the playwright Morgan Lloyd Malcolm going to do this justice to such an extraordinary woman? Well it was truly a wonderful production, full of wit, pathos, and with hard hitting issues of race and gender inequality - was performed with a passion that one could almost feel reverberate the walls of the hall. Emilia herself, was brilliantly played by three different actors, representing the three ages of her life. The male and female roles were played by a diverse cast of female-identifying actors, the reversal of the casting of Shakespeare's day.
The director of the play stated that the issues raised in this play are still relevant and alive today and “has resonated deeply with our cast of young people” who “have enjoyed grappling with its themes through an often humorous, irreverent lens”.
I was so pleased not only to have seen it but also to be challenged by it too. Thank you Lucy and your friends for doing so. For we all need to step out of our comfortable protection at times and be challenged by the assumptions society places upon us…it’s what Jesus did, and should continue to do. So let us not shy away as a community from the prophets in our midst, but embrace what they have to say and give us:
Creator God, help us to embrace the challenges in life. May we listen to those who utter your Words in unexpected ways; That they might stir in the fruits of your kingdom here in earth as in heaven: This we ask for your great Love’s sake, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Extract by kind permission from article by Dr. Christina Barker; Images of the production program and of Aemilia Lanyer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia_Lanier
Revd Graham Buckle
The director of the play stated that the issues raised in this play are still relevant and alive today and “has resonated deeply with our cast of young people” who “have enjoyed grappling with its themes through an often humorous, irreverent lens”.
I was so pleased not only to have seen it but also to be challenged by it too. Thank you Lucy and your friends for doing so. For we all need to step out of our comfortable protection at times and be challenged by the assumptions society places upon us…it’s what Jesus did, and should continue to do. So let us not shy away as a community from the prophets in our midst, but embrace what they have to say and give us:
Creator God, help us to embrace the challenges in life. May we listen to those who utter your Words in unexpected ways; That they might stir in the fruits of your kingdom here in earth as in heaven: This we ask for your great Love’s sake, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Extract by kind permission from article by Dr. Christina Barker; Images of the production program and of Aemilia Lanyer - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilia_Lanier
Revd Graham Buckle
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Thursday January 19th 2023
What a delight to meet up with my old Benedictine friend Br Patrice today. He had some encouraging words for me and it was good to catch up with him. He is a monk at the community of Solesmes in France and I have visited him in the beautiful Abbey and enjoyed its renowned Gregorian Chanting of the psalms and office https://www.solesmes.com He was meeting an Abbot from another French Community in the railway station. He offered a little prayer for us outside Victoria Railway Station, which I offer to you for this weeks Weekly Devotion. Please remember his community as they remember us at St Stephen’s in their prayers. Revd Graham Buckle |
Graham and Br Patrice finally find his brother Dom Jean Pateau from Fontgombault
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