Jo Clifford

Jo Clifford (born 1951) is a British writer, performer, poet and teacher based in Edinburgh.

She is the author of around 80 plays, many of which have been translated into various languages and performed all over the world.

Clifford was born in North Staffordshire in 1951 and was sent to board at Clifton College in Bristol aged 7.

Her mother died suddenly when Clifford was 12 years old.

After school, Clifford studied languages (Spanish and Arabic) at the University of St Andrews, with Ferdy Woodward.

It was here that Clifford met Sue Innes in 1971, and they later married.

One of the earliest plays she wrote was Losing Venice in 1985, 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.

This work is the sequel to an earlier play, God's New Frock (2003).

The play was one of the first in the UK to be written by and starring a trans person.

The play features Jesus as a trans woman.

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.

The couple had 2 daughters and were together for 33 yrs until Innes' death from a brain tumour in 2006.

Clifford is a trans woman, and has been quoted as saying that she has identified as such "for as long as I remember".

Clifford transitioned after Innes' death in 2006.

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.

A 2009 production at the Tron Theatre attracted hundreds of protests and the production was condemned by the Archbishop of Glasgow Philip Tartaglia, despite his not having seen show or read the script.

Clifford discusses the play's reception in the book Out of the Ordinary: Representations of LGBT Lives.

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, and received a 5 star review from The Guardian.

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

Natalia Mallo translated the script into Portuguese, with permission from Clifford, after seeing the play performed at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2014.

Mallo then collaborated with travesti performer Renata Carvalho to premier the play in Brazil in 2016.

Carvalho performed the title role over 200 times.

The play has also been translated into Spanish and performed in Argentina and Chile.

In 2017 Clifford was inducted into the Saltire Society's community of Outstanding women of Scotland, and in 2021 she was awarded the Olwen Wymark award by the Writers' Guild of Great Britain.

Clifford studied at the University of St Andrews with Ferdy Woodward.

Her publisher is Chris Goode and Company.

Clifford first discovered theatre through playing women's roles in school plays.