Clifford Williams (actor)

Clifford Williams (1926 – 20 August 2005) was a Welsh theatre director and stage actor. He was born in Cardiff, Wales, and died in London, England.

Earl life

Clifford Williams, son of George F. Williams and Florence (Gapper) from Cardiff, was born in Birmingham. He attended Highbury Grammar School. He served in the British Army Ordnance Corps (RAOC) from 1945 to 1948. ^[1]

Williams was a fellow of Trinity College of Music (London), as well as the Welsh College of Music and Drama (on the Board of Governors from 1980).

Career

Founder, 1994: (Director and Playwright) Mime Theatre London. 1950-53: Artistic Director, Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury, 1956 Queen's Theatre, Hornchurch, 1957 Arts Theatre, London. 1963-80, Associate Director, Royal Shakespeare Company, U.K.

From 1963: Artistic Directorships at: National Theatre, U.K., also the national theatres of: Spain, Yugoslavia, Mexico, Finland, Bulgaria, France, Denmark, Sweden, USSR, Canada, Japan Germany.

In the United States, his Broadway productions included: The Comedy of Errors, Soldiers, Sleuth, Emperor Henry IVth, As You Like It, A Pack of Lies, Aren’t We All? Breaking the Code (TV) and Man and Superman. His opera productions include: The Flying Dutchman, Savitri, Dido and Aeneas, Bellman’s Opera.

Musical productions include (in London): Our Man Creighton, Mardi Gras, Oh! Calcutta and Carte Blanche. He was the author of the children’s plays The Sleeping Princess, The Goose Girl and The Secret Kingdom, and he translated Ibsen, Strindberg and Chekhov.

He was chairman of the British Theatre Association (1978-90).

For the Royal Shakespeare Company: Directed 31 productions including the outstandingly successful (also set designer) Comedy of Errors (with Ian Richardson, Michael Williams, Timothy West, Donald Burton, Elizabeth Spriggs, Janet Suzman and Susan Engel);^[2] The Merchant of Venice (Janet Suzman, Eric Porter and William Squire) and The Jew of Malta (Eric Porter and Tony Church).^[3]

Selected theatre credits

The Comedy of Errors (1962), for the Royal Shakespeare Company^[4]
Cymbeline (1974), for the RSC
The Duchess of Malfi (1971), for the RSC
As You Like It (1974)
Sleuth (1970)
Antony and Cleopatra (1951–1952) (actor)
Caesar and Cleopatra (1951–1952) (actor)

References

^ The Stage Thursday 1 September 2005, page 11
^ Evans, Mark (2016). "Ricochets and reverberations: Introduction". In Evans, Mark; Kemp, Rick (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq. Routledge. p. 195. ISBN 9781317863635.
^ Potter, Lois (2010). "Tragedy and performance". In Smith, Emma; Sullivan, Garrett A. Jr (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy. Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780521519373.
^ Whitworth, Charles Walters (2003). "Introduction". The Comedy of Errors. Oxford University Press. pp. 70–72. ISBN 9780192814616.

External links

[1] The Stage Thursday 1 September 2005, page 11

[2] Evans, Mark (2016). "Ricochets and reverberations: Introduction". In Evans, Mark; Kemp, Rick (eds.). The Routledge Companion to Jacques Lecoq. Routledge. p. 195. ISBN 9781317863635.

[3] Potter, Lois (2010). "Tragedy and performance". In Smith, Emma; Sullivan, Garrett A. Jr (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to English Renaissance Tragedy. Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9780521519373.

[4] Whitworth, Charles Walters (2003). "Introduction". The Comedy of Errors. Oxford University Press. pp. 70–72. ISBN 9780192814616.

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