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Jo Clifford

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Jo Clifford
Cifford at the FLUPP Literary Festival, 2016
Born1951 (age 72–73)
North Staffordshire, England
EducationClifton College
Alma materUniversity of St Andrews
Occupation(s)Writer, performer, poet, teacher
EmployerQueen Margaret University
Spouse
​
(died 2005)​
Children2
AwardsOlwen Wymark award (2021)

Jo Clifford (born 1951) is a British writer, performer, poet and teacher based in Edinburgh.[1][2] In 2017, she was inducted into the Saltire Society's community of Outstanding women of Scotland,[1][3] and was given the Olwen Wymark award by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain in 2021.[4]

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

Career

[edit]

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 written for the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. These all had a gender-balanced cast and a central female character.[1] Clifford has written several adaptations for the stage, including Anna Karenina, which premiered at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum in 2005.[8][9]

Clifford's first professional acting was in The Gospel According To Jesus, Queen of Heaven [ru], which she wrote in 2009 as part of the Glasgay! Festival.[1][10] This work is the sequel to God's New Frock (2003).[7][11] It was one of the first in the UK to be written by and starring a trans person.[12] The play features Jesus as a trans woman.[13] Natalia Mallo translated the script into Portuguese, with permission from Clifford, after seeing it performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014.[14] Mallo then collaborated with travesti performer Renata Carvalho to premiere the play in Brazil in 2016.[14][15] It has been translated into Spanish and performed in Argentina and Chile.[15]

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.[2]

Clifford is Professor of Theatre in the School of Drama and Creative Industries at Edinburgh’s Queen Margaret University.[16]

Reception and analysis

[edit]

Christianity and LGBT

[edit]

Speaking to Katie Doh of Dazed, Clifford said that The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven had begun her social gender transition, where she was "encountering hatred on the street from people shouting abuse at me, saying horrible things, laughing at me. I wondered where this hatred came from. I'd read the Gospels, and when I read them I was profoundly moved. I had been brought up as a Christian and taught that when you're unsure of what to do, you should try to think, 'What would Jesus do?' I thought, 'Well, what would Jesus do if Jesus came back to earth now and was me, a trans woman? What would she do and what would she say?' That was the origin of the play."[12] In Out of the Ordinary: Representations of LGBT Lives, Clifford spoke about the abuse she experienced, connecting it to what she saw as harsh prohibitions against transgender and gender variant individuals in the Old Testament of the Bible. She discusses Yahwism, which she says venerates God the Father, replacing the worship of the Mother Goddess in ancient Middle Eastern cultures, but notes that the link is not strong enough to make for academic purposes.[17]

A 2009 production of The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven at the Tron Theatre attracted hundreds of protesters.[13] Archbishop Mario Conti, the Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, said it was "difficult to imagine a more provocative and offensive abuse of Christian beliefs".[18] When the play was shown in Brazil, it was banned in several cities, including Jundiaí, Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.[19][20]

Death

[edit]

Her play Every One received a 5-star review from Mark Fisher in The Guardian, who described Every One as offering a profound response to death. Fisher argues that the play engages with social societal issues in a cathartic manner, although he critiqued the play's ending for its perceived lack of resolution.[9] Sally Hales in Exeunt described the play as "a big rollercoaster ride through the responsibilities we have to ourselves, our family".[21]

Personal life

[edit]

Clifford was born in North Staffordshire in 1951 and was sent to board at Clifton College in Bristol aged 7.[1][2] 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 years until Innes' death from a brain tumour in 2006.[1][2][11]

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 in 2006, after Innes' death.[10]

Awards and honours

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Selected works

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Jo Clifford". www.saltiresociety.org.uk. Archived from the original on 19 January 2021. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d 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.
  3. ^ "Jo Clifford". National Theatre of Scotland. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  4. ^ a b "Olwen Wymark Awards recipients 2021" (PDF). Writers' Guild of Great Britain. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  5. ^ a b "The Scotsman Sessions #88: Jo Clifford". The Scotsman. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  6. ^ "Jo Clifford". Drama Online Library. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  7. ^ a b c d "Dreaming identities into being". The Irish Times. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  8. ^ a b Hickling, Alfred (25 March 2015). "Anna Karenina review – grand passion and domestic discomfort in superb revival". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Fisher, Mark (23 March 2010). "Every One | Theatre review". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Edinburgh festival 2014: female Jesus teaches a lesson in tolerance". The Guardian. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Interview: Jo Clifford, playwright". The Scotsman. Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  12. ^ a b Goh, Katie (12 March 2019). "The revolutionary play that casts Jesus as a trans woman". Dazed.
  13. ^ a b "Trans Jesus was meant to be 'positive' says playwright Jo Clifford". BBC News. 13 December 2018.
  14. ^ a b 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.
  15. ^ a b 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.
  16. ^ 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.
  17. ^ Rivers & Ward 2012, pp. 12–13.
  18. ^ Brown, Jonathan (5 November 2009). "Outrage as Jesus portrayed as transsexual woman". The Independent. Retrieved 17 March 2024.
  19. ^ Rodrigues, Leonardo. "Quem é Renata Carvalho, a atriz transexual que ousou encarnar Jesus Cristo" [Who is Renata Carvalho, the transsexual actress who dared to embody Jesus Christ]. Brasil Online (in Brazilian Portuguese).
  20. ^ Filho, Eduardo F. (22 September 2017). "Renata Carvalho, atriz travesti: 'Mergulhei em Jesus'" [Renata Carvalho, travesti actress: 'I immersed myself in Jesus']. VEJA Gente (in Brazilian Portuguese). Grupo Abril. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  21. ^ "Review: Gardens Speak / Every One at BAC". Exeunt Magazine. 16 March 2016. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Pink List 2013: Ones to watch". The Independent. 13 October 2013. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  23. ^ Gillinson, Miriam (12 September 2018). "Losing Venice review – Jo Clifford's odyssey gets a punkish revamp". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  24. ^ Hammond, Mary (28 March 2015). Charles Dickens's Great Expectations: A Cultural Life, 1860-2012. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4724-0551-7.
  25. ^ Brown, Ian (20 October 2013). Scottish Theatre: Diversity, Language, Continuity. Rodopi. ISBN 978-94-012-0994-6.
  26. ^ Arnold, Sue (6 April 1997). "Ghost drain". The Observer. p. 75.
  27. ^ Gross, John (23 August 1998). "Still packing a punch". The Sunday Telegraph. p. 41.
  28. ^ Baldwin, Tom (11 November 2009). "Transsexual's play sells out". Church Times. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  29. ^ "Faust | Broadway Play Publishing Inc". Retrieved 15 June 2020.
  30. ^ "Trans Jesus was meant to be 'positive' says playwright Jo Clifford". BBC News. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
  31. ^ "Spam Fritters". BBC Radio Scotland. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  32. ^ "Drama on 3, La princesse de Cleves". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
  33. ^ "Nick Hern Books | About Jo Clifford". Nick Hern Books. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
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