Max Stafford-Clark
Encyclopedia
Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart ('Max') Stafford-Clark (born 1941) is an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Theatre Director.

Life and career

He went to school at Felsted
Felsted School
Felsted School, an English co-educational day and boarding independent school, situated in Felsted, Essex. It is in the British Public School tradition, and was founded in 1564 by Richard Rich, 1st Baron Rich who, as Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, acquired...

 and Riverdale Country School
Riverdale Country School
Riverdale Country School is a co-educational, independent, college-preparatory day school in New York City. One of the most competitive private schools in the nation, it is located on two campuses covering more than in the Riverdale section of The Bronx, New York.-History:Founded in 1907 by Dr...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. He has worked as a theatre director since he left Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

.

His directing career began as associate director of the Traverse Theatre
Traverse Theatre
The Traverse Theatre is a theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded in 1963.The Traverse Theatre commissions and develops new plays or adaptations from contemporary playwrights. It also presents a large number of productions from visiting companies from across the UK. These include new plays,...

, Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...

, in 1966. He became artistic director there from 1968–70. He was director of the Traverse Theatre Workshop Company from 1970 to 1974.

He co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Company
Joint Stock Theatre Company
The Joint Stock Theatre Company was founded in London 1974 by David Hare, Max Stafford-Clark and David Aukin. The director William Gaskill was also an important part of the company. It was primarily a new work company....

 in 1974. Joint Stock worked with writers using company research to inspire workshops. From these workshops, writers such as David Hare
David Hare (dramatist)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...

, Howard Brenton
Howard Brenton
-Early years:Brenton was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, son of Methodist minister Donald Henry Brenton and his wife Rose Lilian . He was educated at Chichester High School For Boys and read English Literature at St Catharine's College, Cambridge. In 1964 he was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal...

 and Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and a leading female writer...

 would garner material to inspire a writing phase before rehearsals began. This methodology is sometimes referred to as The Joint Stock Method. Productions during this period included Hare's Fanshen (1975), Brenton's Epsom Downs
Epsom Downs (play)
Epsom Downs is a 1977 play by Howard Brenton. Taking its name from the racecourse at which it is set, the play presents a panorama of race-goers, horse-owners, bookies, jockeys, etc...

and Churchill's Cloud Nine
Cloud Nine (play)
Cloud Nine is a two-act play written by British playwright Caryl Churchill after workshops with the Joint Stock Theatre Company in late 1978 and first performed at Dartington College of Arts, Devon, on 14 February 1979....

(1979) which Stafford-Clark directed, as well as The Speakers, which was the first promenade production in England.

From 1979 to 1993 he was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre is a non-commercial theatre on Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is noted for its contributions to modern theatre...

. He was the Court's longest serving Artistic Director. In a difficult period for new writing, he helped nurture a new group of emerging playwrights such as Andrea Dunbar
Andrea Dunbar
Andrea Dunbar was a British playwright best known for Rita, Sue and Bob Too, an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of teenage girls living in a run-down part of Bradford, Yorkshire...

, Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi
Hanif Kureishi CBE is an English playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, novelist and short story writer. The themes of his work have touched on topics of race, nationalism, immigration, and sexuality...

, Sarah Daniels
Sarah Daniels
Sarah Daniels is a British dramatist. She has been a prolific writer since her first performed play was given a production at the Royal Court in 1981. Her plays have appeared at other venues including the National Theatre, the Battersea Arts Centre, the Crucible, Sheffield and Chicken Shed...

 and Jim Cartwright
Jim Cartwright
Jim Cartwright is an English dramatist, born at Farnworth, Lancashire, England. Cartwright's first play, Road, won a number of awards before being adapted for TV and broadcast by the BBC....

. During this time among the theatre's productions were Victory by Howard Barker
Howard Barker
Howard E. Barker is a British playwright.-The Theatre of Catastrophe :Barker has coined the term "Theatre of Catastrophe" to describe his work...

, Insignificance by Terry Johnson
Terry Johnson (dramatist)
Terry Johnson is a British dramatist and director working for stage, television and film. He is a Literary Associate at the Royal Court Theatre. At The Court he directed Dumb Show by Joe Penhall and opened his play Piano/Forte...

, Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Timberlake Wertenbaker
- Biography :Wertenbaker grew up in the Basque Country of France near Saint-Jean-de-Luz. She attended schools in Europe and the US before settling permanently in London...

 and Rat in the Skull by Ron Hutchinson. Perhaps the most important commission and production of this era was Top Girls
Top Girls
Top Girls is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It is about a woman named Marlene, a career-driven woman who is employed at the 'Top Girls' employment agency. The play examines issues of gender discrimination present in the Thatcherite society that it is set in...

by Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill
Caryl Churchill is an English dramatist known for her use of non-naturalistic techniques and feminist themes, the abuses of power, and sexual politics. She is acknowledged as a major playwright in the English language and a leading female writer...

 (1982)

Academic credits include an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University
Oxford Brookes University is a new university in Oxford, England. It was named to honour the school's founding principal, John Brookes. It has been ranked as the best new university by the Sunday Times University Guide 10 years in a row...

 and Professorships at the University of Warwick
University of Warwick
The University of Warwick is a public research university located in Coventry, United Kingdom...

 and the University of Hertfordshire
University of Hertfordshire
The University of Hertfordshire is a new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,500 students, over 2500 staff, with a turnover of over £181m...

.

Out of Joint

In 1993 he founded the touring company with producer Sonia Friedman
Sonia Friedman
Sonia Friedman is a prolific British West End and Broadway theatre producer. She is the younger sister of actress Maria Friedman.-Biography and career:...

, Out of Joint
Out of Joint theatre company
Out of Joint is a British and international touring theatre company based in London. It specialises in the commissioning and production of new writing, interspersed with occasional revivals and classic productions....

. Recent productions include:
  • 2000 A State Affair by Robin Soans
    Robin Soans
    Robin Soans is an actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include Across the Divide ; A State Affair which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced by Out of Joint theatre company; The Arab Israeli Cookbook ; Talking to Terrorists Robin Soans (born...

     (Out of Joint/Soho Theatre)
  • 2000 Rita, Sue and Bob Too by Andrea Dunbar
    Andrea Dunbar
    Andrea Dunbar was a British playwright best known for Rita, Sue and Bob Too, an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of teenage girls living in a run-down part of Bradford, Yorkshire...

     (Out of Joint/Soho Theatre
    Soho Theatre
    Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....

    )
  • 2001 Feelgood by Alistair Beaton
    Alistair Beaton
    Alistair Beaton is a Scottish left wing political satirist, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter for Gordon Brown....

     (Out of Joint, Hampstead Theatre
    Hampstead Theatre
    Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...

     and the Garrick Theatre
    Garrick Theatre
    The Garrick Theatre is a West End theatre, located on Charing Cross Road, in the City of Westminster. It opened on 24 April 1889 with The Profligate, a play by Arthur Wing Pinero. In its early years, it appears to have specialised in the performance of melodrama, and today the theatre is a...

    )
  • 2001 Sliding with Suzanne by Judy Upton
    Judy Upton
    -Life:She collaborated with Lisa Goldman at The Red Room Theatre Company.She has written radio plays for the BBC.Ashes and Sand has been adapted into film.-Works:*Everlasting Rose, Old Red Lion Theatre, London, 1992...

     (Out of Joint/The Royal Court)
  • 2002 Hinterland by Sebastian Barry
    Sebastian Barry
    Sebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. He has been shortlisted twice for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and has won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year....

     (Out of Joint/The National Theatre)
  • 2002 A Laughing Matter by April De Angelis
    April De Angelis
    April De Angelis is a British dramatist of part Sicilian descent. She is a graduate of Sussex University who trained at East 15 Acting School....

     (Out of Joint/The National Theatre)
  • 2002 She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
    Oliver Goldsmith
    Oliver Goldsmith was an Irish writer, poet and physician known for his novel The Vicar of Wakefield , his pastoral poem The Deserted Village , and his plays The Good-Natur'd Man and She Stoops to Conquer...

     (Out of Joint/The National Theatre)
  • 2003 The Breath of Life by David Hare
    David Hare (dramatist)
    Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...

     (Sydney Theatre Company
    Sydney Theatre Company
    The Sydney Theatre Company is one of Australia's best-known theatre companies operating from The Wharf Theatre near The Rocks area of Sydney, as well as the Sydney Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre....

    )
  • 2003 Duck by Stella Feehily
    Stella Feehily
    Stella Feehily is a London-born Irish playwright and actor. Her plays include "Game" 2003 produced by Fishamble Theatre company-Dublin -published in an anthology of first plays by New Island. ISBN 978-1-84840-020-7...

     (Out of Joint/Royal Court)
  • 2003 The Permanent Way by David Hare
    David Hare (dramatist)
    Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...

     (Out of Joint/The National Theatre
    Royal National Theatre
    The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

    )
  • 2004 Macbeth
    Macbeth
    The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play by William Shakespeare about a regicide and its aftermath. It is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and is believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607...

    by William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

     (Out of Joint)
  • 2005 Talking to Terrorists by Robin Soans
    Robin Soans
    Robin Soans is an actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include Across the Divide ; A State Affair which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced by Out of Joint theatre company; The Arab Israeli Cookbook ; Talking to Terrorists Robin Soans (born...

     (Out of Joint/Royal Court)
  • 2006 The Overwhelming by JT Rogers (Out of Joint/The National Theatre
    Royal National Theatre
    The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...

    )
  • 2007 King of Hearts by Alistair Beaton
    Alistair Beaton
    Alistair Beaton is a Scottish left wing political satirist, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter for Gordon Brown....

     (Out of Joint, Hampstead Theatre
    Hampstead Theatre
    Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in the vicinity of Swiss Cottage and Belsize Park, in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. In 2009 it celebrates its 50 year anniversary.The original theatre was...

    )
  • 2008 "The Convicts Opera" - Stephen Jeffreys
    Stephen Jeffreys
    Stephen Jeffreys is a British playwright.His plays include Like Dolls or Angels ; Carmen 1936 ; Valued Friends ; The Clink ; The Libertine - also a screenplay filmed with Johnny Depp; A Going...

     - Based On The Beggars Opera
  • 2009 'Dreams of Violence' by Stella Feehily
    Stella Feehily
    Stella Feehily is a London-born Irish playwright and actor. Her plays include "Game" 2003 produced by Fishamble Theatre company-Dublin -published in an anthology of first plays by New Island. ISBN 978-1-84840-020-7...

     - (Out of Joint/Soho Theatre)
  • 2009 'Mixed Up North' by Robin Soans
    Robin Soans
    Robin Soans is an actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include Across the Divide ; A State Affair which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced by Out of Joint theatre company; The Arab Israeli Cookbook ; Talking to Terrorists Robin Soans (born...

     - (Out of Joint/Octagon Theatre Bolton)
  • 2010 'Andersen's English' by Sebastian Barry
    Sebastian Barry
    Sebastian Barry is an Irish playwright, novelist, and poet. He has been shortlisted twice for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction and has won the 2008 Costa Book of the Year....

     (Out of Joint/Hampstead Theatre
  • 2010 'The Big Fellah' by Richard Bean
    Richard Bean
    Richard Bean, born in East Hull in 1956, is an English playwright.-Early years:Bean studied Social Psychology at Loughborough University of Science and Technology and graduated with a 2-1 BSc Hons, and went on to become an occupational psychologist, having previously worked in a bread plant for a...

     (Out of Joint/Lyric Hammersmith)
  • 2011 'A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson' adapted by Russell Barr, Ian Redford & Max Stafford-Clark from James Boswell
    James Boswell
    James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....

    .

Personal life

In 2006, Stafford-Clark suffered a stroke. He has since returned to work, and directed the production of The Overwhelming on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 in October 2007, as well as continuing to direct for Out of Joint. In August 2010 he married the playwright Stella Feehily
Stella Feehily
Stella Feehily is a London-born Irish playwright and actor. Her plays include "Game" 2003 produced by Fishamble Theatre company-Dublin -published in an anthology of first plays by New Island. ISBN 978-1-84840-020-7...

. He has one daughter, Kitty Stafford-Clark.
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