Poor Clare

Black Treacle Theatre are bringing Poor Clare to Theatre@41 this autumn, with the run starting on 3 November and continuing through to 7 November. It's a comedy set in medieval Italy, and the story follows Clare, a noblewoman whose days are mostly taken up with hairstyles and gossip. She's destined to marry a wealthy nobleman, the kind of life that's more about the appearance of things than much else.

That changes when she meets Francis on the streets of Assisi. He introduces her to new ideas and a different way of living, and the play follows her as she works her way from that comfortable, sheltered world towards something quite different. Black Treacle Theatre describe it as a hilarious and off-beat comedy about wealth, sacrifice, and the cost of doing good — and it's the comedy part that carries it, so it's not just a quiet character study.

It's not a new piece, either. Poor Clare won the 2022 American Theatre Critic Association's New Play Award and the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Best New Play, so it's arrived in York with some proper recognition behind it. That's a good thing to know when you're deciding whether to commit an evening to a play you haven't heard of before.

It runs from 3 November to 7 November at Theatre@41, so you've got a few nights to choose from across the week. If you're after a comedy that doesn't shy away from the bigger questions, this is one to keep on your radar.