Interview: Jo Clifford, playwright
Published Date: 25 October 2009
By Chitra Ramaswamy
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/comment/Interview-Jo-Clifford-playwright.5764155.jpONE of Scotland's most respected playwrights, Jo Clifford talks about the long, painful journey to becoming an 'out' transgendered woman
JO CLIFFORD slips into the seat next to me at the café, the very picture of well turned-out Edinburgh propriety. She is tall and softly-spoken. Her grey hair is pulled back and the wispy bits that have been tugged loose by the wind whistling down the High Street frame her lively features. She looks as sharp as a tack and as cosy as a cardigan, the sort who drinks milky tea and calls everyone dear, which it turns out she does. But there's a trace of mischief in her expression, a spark that suggests she could be a right laugh when she gets going. We order a pot of tea and a slice of spiced apple cake that the waitress has kept back especially for her. Then Clifford, a prominent playwright who has been making work in Scotland for more than two decades, tells me the remarkable tale of her life as a transgendered person.
