Love and Loss in the Romantic Age: Catholic University Presents BLOODY POETRY

Actors from The Catholic University of America will portray the lives and loves of Romantic Age poets Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley this month as part of the fall show, Bloody Poetry, taking place in Hartke Theatre Oct. 13 through 16.

The play, written in 1984 by English playwright and screenwriter Howard Brenton, narrows in on the relationships between Byron and Shelley and the women they loved: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and Byron's mistress Claire Clairmont, as they converge on the stormy shores of Lake Geneva in 1816.

While exploring themes of art, utopia, and free love, the play depicts the scandals, inner demons, and devastating heartbreaks of these rebellious immortals of the Romantic Age.

Bloody Poetry is directed by Gregg Henry. It will be performed Oct. 13 through 15 at 7:30 p.m., and Oct. 15 through 16, at 2 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit drama.cua.edu, email cua-drama@cua.edu, or call the box office at 202-319-4000. Tickets are $15 for general admission; $10 for senior citizens, military, Catholic University alumni, faculty, and staff; and $5 for students. Student rush tickets will be available an hour before performances for $3.