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JOAN URE

  (1918 - 1978)
Nationality:    British
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Elizabeth Thoms Clark nee Carswell, called Betty, was born 22 June 1918 in Wallsend of Scottish parents who moved to Glasgow. She wanted to be a writer & 'My first adult play was written at 12... - Cendrillon in French!' for the 4th year to perform, she wrote to her correspondent, John Cairns, 25 October 1963. Pregnant, she married Jack. She fictionalised all her relationships, including the one meant most, with her daughter, Frances, 'a tenderer wound I never will know I hope!' [432] 21 April 1969. Having been born in England made her self-consciously Scots & this resulted in an ironic refrain throughout her public writing eg 'Scottish, more or less' & 'as Scots as I am'. In correspondence it was 'I could say I am an Englishman, & spite 'em all.' The DNB gets her middle name wrong, presuming it derives from her mother's maiden name, Thomson. It also blunts why she chose the pen-name Ure, which to her sounded more Scottish than any closer to home. The first name commemorated her sister, Joan, who committed suicide. Death by suicide was one of her themes, summed up in the poem, 'In Memoriam 1971', published in Scottish International. DNB omits her poetry, including 'Signal at Red', written 1964, published 1966 by EUP in Scottish Poetry 1. It's addressed to her correspondent, from whom she takes the phrase, 'signal, red', & gives reason for not loving him by alluding to the effect of the love of her life, Ian Hamilton Finlay. 'I've been writing you letters for weeks, more than I've written to any one person since the 3 weeks, 6 years ago when Ian & I fell in love with each other for whole 3 weeks long,' she wrote 14 Aug '63; & tended to date from that singular affair which went on for considerably longer than three weeks. They were putting on plays together at The Falcon Theatre, 1962, hers being 'Punctuated Rhythms'. He's the disappointing lover referred to in her short story, Midsummer's Eve, published in Words 6 in 1978. She claims he was almost the death of her, though she doesn't specify how & there's nothing in the correspondence, 1963 - 1971, to suggest she ever proposed leaving dependence on her husband for him. DNB omits any outline of her love theme or reference to who personified love for her. It is informative on her plays, the best of which is the revue 'Nothing May Come of It' which incorporates song & dance. She characterises people she knew eg her correspondent as the lead actress in 'Nothing May Come of It' as well as Puck in 'Seven Characters out of the Dream'. None of her plays were full-length. She explains why not in her correspondence, [261] 8 March 1966. She was short-breathed creatively, as physically, having a TB she would hold on to & which had made her erotically susceptible to 'the One' ie Finlay. She did live close to the edge with death & after having thrown a cup of tea in Alasdair Gray's face - doing whatever would contribute to the desired end of being a published writer, she knew everybody on the literary scene - she died with dignity in 1978. Her one major work is her correspondence with John Cairns which supplies a larger structure, a wall for her mosaics that add up to a substantial mural of her life. DNB did not consult it. Sources are John Cairns, her correspondence with him in the John Cairns Archive, Family Records, Helen Mitchell & the DNB entry. The archive can be contacted, JohnCairnsArchive@hotmail.com; a redaction of the correspondence is available.

Research:    Correspondence of John Cairns with Betty Clark alias Joan Ure. ISBN: 978-1-908021-01-4. publication date 15th September, 2014. CORRESPONDENCE presents the previously unpublished correspondence of pioneering Scottish poet-playwright Joan Ure (1918-1978) with fellow writer John Cairns. A much admired and respected figure of the literary and theatrical landscape of the twentieth century and a founder of the Scottish Society of Playwrights, Ure's early death 'at the height of her powers'* contributed to the unjust lack of recognition and attention her work suffered in later decades. The letters date from 1963 to 1971, a period when her innovative contribution to Scottish Theatre was beginning to make its mark. Writing both under her literary pseudonym and her real name, Betty Clark, she sends John an intimate account of her literary and personal relationships, preoccupations, and commentaries on her creative output. Correspondence will provide much-needed primary sources for Joan Ure scholarship, redress the lack of published material relating to her work, and provide readers with an intense and engrossing narrative of the relationship between two writers in 1960s Britain. Published by Ki Publishing, compiled by the archivist and author John Cairns and edited by Karen F. Smith. http://kipublishing.com/uk2ecommerce/department/http_www_kipublishing_com/page/3/

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below is a list of Joan Ure's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

        Hard Case, The         I See Myself As This Young Girl         Me For Hero         Nice Conversational Chat With Drinks, A         Rose and Mr Spier, The         Seven Characters Out of the Dream         Something in It for Cordelia         Something in It for Ophelia         Take Your Old Rib Back,Then         Watch This Space