Joan Ure
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Elizabeth Thoms Clark (June 22, 1918 – 1978) was a poet and playwright who used the pen name Joan Ure.
[edit] Life
Born Elizabeth Thoms Carswell on June 22, 1918 in Wallsend of Scottish parents who moved to Glasgow, she was called Betty. She wrote her first play, Cendrillon, in French, for the 4th year school class to perform.
Already pregnant, she married Jack Clark. She fictionalised all her relationships, including that with her daughter, Frances.
Having been born in England made her self-consciously Scots and she adopted an ironic refrain throughout her public writing: "Scottish, more or less" and "as Scots as I am". In correspondence she wrote "I could say I am an Englishman, and spite 'em all."
[edit] Work
She chose the pen-name Ure, because it sounded more Scottich to her. 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.
Her poem Signal at Red, written 1964, is addressed to a correspondent who she met when they were putting on plays together at The Falcon Theatre in 1962, hers being 'Punctuated Rhythms'. He's also 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 her husband for him.
One of her best plays is the revue 'Nothing May Come of It' which incorporates song and dance. She characterises people she knew including 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. Her one major work is her correspondence with John Cairns which provides a framework for understanding her life and work.
She was well known in literary circles for her temperament, after throwing a cup of tea in Alasdair Gray's face, as well as her writing.
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