Writer and Director: Isabella Javor
There have been several new plays recently about the life of a historical artist or writer. It’s not always an easy trick to pull off; playwrights too often swamped by the sheer wealth of biographical material. So in Threads of May at the Camden Fringe, when writer Isabella Javor comes on stage and announces she’s May Morris, daughter of William Morris, and that she’s eight years old, it looks as if this will be another dutiful cradle-to-grave account of a lesser-known figure.
But Javor weaves her story skillfully and with a sure sense of pace, convincing us of the developing maturity of her subject. So much is already known about May’s parents, not least the love affair between her mother Jane and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but Javor sensibly moves swiftly through this. She doesn’t deny what may have taken place in those summers when Rossetti was resident at Kelmscott Manor – indeed, as May, she gives a saucy retort to her mother who feels May’s divorce is a source of scandal. But she is ever insistent that this is her story: ‘I’m a remarkable woman – always was, though none of you seemed to think so.’
Inspired by the creativity of her parents, May becomes a brilliant embroiderer and excels in a number of crafts. She remains faithful to her father’s creed ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’. At the age of 23, May is made manager of the embroidery department of Morris & Co and goes on to found the Women’s Guild of Arts. She falls in love, first, intriguingly, with George Bernard Shaw, who evidently adored her. Then she has a brief, unhappy marriage with Henry Sparling, an acolyte of her father.
Javor is a natural storyteller, managing to conjure up the beauty that inspires May without projected images and with minimal props. If she is able to develop Threads of May into a more lavish production, it would be lovely to see something of May’s work and be given a glimpse of Kelmscott and its meadows.
In addition to her narration, Javor is a talented musician. She sings a number of accomplished short songs, accompanying herself on the guitar. It’s an appealing way of creating tiny vignettes of moments in May’s life.
And finally, Threads of May is a queer love story, May finding a lifetime lover in Cornish landgirl Mary Lobb, who comes to work as her gardener.
Runs until 26 August 2026
Camden Fringe 2026 runs until 30 August
