Max Stafford-Clark
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Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart ('Max') Stafford-Clark (born 1941) is an English Theatre Director. He went to school at Felsted and Riverdale Country School in New York City. He has worked as a theatre director since he left Trinity College, Dublin.
His directing career began as associate director of the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, in 1966, becoming artistic director there (1968–70). He was director of the Traverse Theatre Workshop Company from 1970 to 1974.
He co-founded The Joint Stock Theatre Company in 1974. Joint Stock created a distinctive style of working with writers using company research to inspire workshops. From these workshops writers such as David Hare, Howard Brenton and Caryl Churchill would garner material to inspire a writing phase before rehearsals began. This methodology is sometimes referred to as The Joint Stock Method. Key productions include Hare's Fanshen, Brenton's Epsom Downs and Churchill's Cloud Nine which Stafford.-Clark directed.
From 1979 to 1993 he was Artistic Director of The Royal Court 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, Hanif Kureishi, Sarah Daniels and Jim Cartwright. During this time the theatre presented seminal productions including Victory by Howard Barker, Insignificance by Terry Johnson, Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker and Rat in the Skull by Ron Hutchinson. Perhaps the most important commission and production of this era was Top Girls by Caryl Churchill (1982)
In 1993 he founded the touring company, Out of Joint. Recent productions include:
- 2005 Talking to Terrorists by Robin Soans (Out of Joint/Royal Court)
- 2004 Macbeth by William Shakespeare (Out of Joint)
- 2003 The Permanent Way by David Hare (Out of Joint/The National Theatre)
- 2003 Duck by Stella Feehily (Out of Joint/Royal Court)
- 2003 The Breath of Life by David Hare (Sydney Theatre Company)
- 2002 She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith (Out of Joint/The National Theatre)
- 2002 A Laughing Matter by April De Angelis (Out of Joint/The National Theatre)
- 2002 Hinterland by Sebastian Barry (Out of Joint/The National Theatre)
- 2001 Sliding with Suzanne by Judy Upton (Out of Joint/The Royal Court)
- 2001 Feelgood by Alistair Beaton (Out of Joint, Hampstead Theatre and the Garrick Theatre)
- 2000 Rita, Sue and Bob Too by Andrea Dunbar (Out of Joint/Soho Theatre)
- 2000 A State Affair by Robin Soans (Out of Joint/Soho Theatre)
Academic credits include an honorary doctorate from Oxford Brookes University and Professorships at the University of Warwick and the University of Hertfordshire.
[edit] Bibliography
- Ritchie, R. (1987), The Joint Stock Book, London: Methuen ISBN 0-413-41030-7
- Stafford-Clark, M. (1997), Letters to George: The Account of a Rehearsal, London: Nick Hern Books ISBN 1-854-59317-X
- Stafford-Clark, M. and Roberts, P. (2007), Taking Stock: The Theatre of Max Stafford-Clark, London: Nick Hern Books ISBN 1-854-59840-6
