Cifford at the FLUPP Literary Festival, 2016

Jo Clifford (born 1951) is a British writer, performer, poet and teacher based in Edinburgh.[1][2] She is the author of around 80 plays, many of which have been translated into various languages and performed all over the world. In 2017 Clifford was inducted into the Saltire Society's community of Outstanding women of Scotland,[1][3] and in 2021 she was awarded the Olwen Wymark award by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.[4]

Clifford studied at the University of St Andrews with Ferdy Woodward.[5] Her publisher is Chris Goode and Company.[6]

Career

Clifford first discovered theatre through playing women's roles in school plays.[1][7] One of the earliest plays she wrote was Losing Venice in 1985,[1] the first of a series of plays written for the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. These plays all had a gender balanced cast and a female character taking central role.[1] As well as original works Clifford has also written several adaptations for the stage, including Anna Karena, which premiered at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum in 2005.[8]

Clifford's first professional acting was in The Gospel According To Jesus, Queen of Heaven, which she also wrote, in 2009 as part of the Glasgay! Festival.[1][9] This work is the sequel to an earlier play, God's New Frock (2003).[7][10] The play was one of the first in the UK to be written by and starring a trans person.[11] The play features Jesus as a trans woman. A 2009 production at the Tron Theatre attracted hundreds of protests[12] and the production was condemned by the Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia,[13] despite his not having seen show or read the script.[9] Clifford discusses the play's reception in the book Out of the Ordinary: Representations of LGBT Lives.[14] Natalia Mallo translated the script into Portuguese, with permission from Clifford, after seeing the play performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014.[15] Mallo then collaborated with travesti performer Renata Carvalho to premier the play in Brazil in 2016. Carvalho performed the title role over 200 times.[15][16] The play has also been translated into Spanish and performed in Argentina and Chile.[16]

Her play Every One premiered at the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh in 2010. It has been called a modern version of the medieval play, Everyman,[17] and received a 5 star review from The Guardian.[18]

She is a Professor of Theatre at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh.[19]

Personal life

Clifford was born in North Staffordshire in 1951 and was sent to board at Clifton College in Bristol aged 7.[1][17] Her mother died suddenly when Clifford was 12 years old.[1]

After school, Clifford studied languages (Spanish and Arabic) at the University of St Andrews,[7] with Ferdy Woodward.[5] It was here that Clifford met Sue Innes in 1971, and they later married. The couple had 2 daughters and were together for 33 yrs until Innes' death from a brain tumour in 2006.[1][17][10]

Clifford is a trans woman, and has been quoted as saying that she has identified as such "for as long as I remember".[7] Clifford transitioned after Innes' death in 2006.[9]

Awards and honours

Works

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Jo Clifford". www.saltiresociety.org.uk. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  2. ↑ "'I want to be a threat': Jo Clifford on her transgender Christ and overcoming fear". The Guardian. 2 March 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  3. ↑ "Jo Clifford". National Theatre of Scotland. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  4. 1 2 "Olwen Wymark Awards recipients 2021" (PDF). Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  5. 1 2 "The Scotsman Sessions #88: Jo Clifford". The Scotsman. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  6. ↑ "Jo Clifford". Drama Online Library. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Dreaming identities into being". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  8. ↑ Fisher, Mark (23 March 2010). "Every One | Theatre review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  9. 1 2 3 "Edinburgh festival 2014: female Jesus teaches a lesson in tolerance". The Guardian. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  10. 1 2 "Interview: Jo Clifford, playwright". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  11. ↑ Goh, Katie (12 March 2019). "The revolutionary play that casts Jesus as a trans woman". Dazed.
  12. ↑ "Trans Jesus was meant to be 'positive' says playwright Jo Clifford". BBC News. 13 December 2018.
  13. ↑ Hajjaji, Danya (11 June 2021). "Pride Event Portraying Jesus as Trans Woman Outrages Christians". Newsweek. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
  14. ↑ Rivers, Ian; Ward, Richard (15 March 2012). Out of the Ordinary: Representations of LGBT Lives. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4438-3873-3.
  15. 1 2 Awde, Nick (23 October 2019). "Renata Carvalho: 'I've never known a play to raise discussions in so many places'". The Stage. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  16. 1 2 Sewell, Jan; Smout, Clare (29 April 2020). The Palgrave Handbook of the History of Women on Stage. Springer Nature. p. 797. ISBN 978-3-030-23828-5.
  17. 1 2 3 Gardner, Lyn (2 March 2016). "'I want to be a threat': Jo Clifford on her transgender Christ and overcoming fear". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  18. ↑ Fisher, Mark (23 March 2010). "Every One | Theatre review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  19. ↑ Rivers, Ian; Ward, Richard (15 March 2012). Out of the Ordinary: Representations of LGBT Lives. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-4438-3873-3.
  20. ↑ "Pink List 2013: Ones to watch". The Independent. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  21. ↑ Hammond, Mary (28 March 2015). Charles Dickens's Great Expectations: A Cultural Life, 1860-2012. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4724-0551-7.
  22. ↑ Brown, Ian (20 October 2013). Scottish Theatre: Diversity, Language, Continuity. Rodopi. ISBN 978-94-012-0994-6.
  23. ↑ Clifford, John (1991). Light in the Village. Nick Hern Books. ISBN 978-1-85459-125-8.
  24. ↑ "Faust | Broadway Play Publishing Inc". Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  25. ↑ "My Festival Q&A: Jo Clifford". The Scotsman. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  26. ↑ "The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven - with Jo Clifford". MITsp 2020. 18 February 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  27. ↑ Dazed (12 March 2019). "The revolutionary play that casts Jesus as a trans woman". Dazed. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  28. ↑ "Trans Jesus was meant to be 'positive' says playwright Jo Clifford". BBC News. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  29. ↑ Clifford, Jo (2011). The Tree of Knowledge. Nick Hern Books Limited. ISBN 978-1-84842-235-3.
  30. ↑ "Nick Hern Books | About Jo Clifford". Nick Hern Books. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  31. ↑ Clifford, Jo; Goode, Chris (28 September 2017). Eve. Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-78682-270-3.
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