When such a spacious mirror's set before him, He needs must see himself.Antony and Cleopatra

Lord Clapham, played by Jonathan Ray, begins as the Bottom brothers’ primary patron, but that changes quickly once he hears that Shakespeare is performing the same play. Clapham is excited by the arts and not ashamed to share his sometimes zealous opinions about the Bottoms’ shows. He’s a lessor lord and extravagantly overdresses to compensate.

Clapham in Something Rotten! is loosely based on English historian and poet John Clapham and a tribute to Clapham High Street, home to the Royal Shakespeare Company in London.

John Clapham was the author of Narcissus, a poem written in Latin hexameters treating the youth as a warning against the dangers of philautia (self-admiration). It is considered by many to be a pretext for Shakespeare's erotic narrative Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece, and, according to some, Shakespeare's Sonnets, which also address the "Sin of self-love.”

Jonathan Ray is a professional actor, director, and co-founder of two The Green Room programs: The Summer Shakespeare Institute (22 summers of fun with children performing The Bard’s works!) and Shakespeare in the Park (15 outdoor productions). He participated in Shakespeare Lives!—a joint project of UNC School of the Arts and Shakespeare’s Globe of London, and performed a workshop scene one midnight on the Globe stage in 1999. Ray has acted in 18 Shakespeare main productions at Hickory Theatre, Charlotte Shakespeare, Shakespeare in the Park, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Appalachian State University, Theatre for Young People Professional Touring Repertory Theatre, and Actor’s Gym of Charlotte.

Jonathan Ray has trained vocally at Hickory Arts and was in the 1996 production of The Fantastics for The Green Room at Newton Performing Arts Center with Something Rotten! Music Director and Hickory Arts Artistic Director Jeff Hartman and wife Carol Anne Hartman (Bea)—the Hartmans will be celebrating 25 years together since their Fantastics production, during the run of Something Rotten! in Jeffers Theatre, where they married.

#somethingrotten @hickorytheatre August 27-September 11 #kungfugripshakespeare @hickoryarts #vocalcoaching