Laughing in the face of death
Neil Cooper
Published on 15 Mar 2010
http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/stage-visual-arts/laughing-in-the-face-of-death-1.1013586 (http://www.heraldscotland.com/arts-ents/stage-visual-arts/laughing-in-the-face-of-death-1.1013586)
Laughter is never very far from Jo Clifford's lips these days.
The Yorkshire-born playwright, whose latest work, Every One, opens at Edinburgh's Royal Lyceum Theatre this week, punctuates every point she makes with hearty gusts of the stuff, suggesting a perennial amusement at life. You'd never guess that in the last five years Clifford has lost her life partner, the writer Sue Innes, and almost died herself from a heart condition. In the midst of all this, Clifford decided she could no longer live as a man, and became a woman, tapping into her feminine side in full.
Throughout all this personal upheaval, Clifford has kept on writing, channelling grieving into artistry with an eye on the metaphysical that has typified her career over a remarkable 70-odd plays. At first glance, though, the scenario Clifford sets up in Every One appears disarmingly domestic, as a normal, everyday family have their lives upended by increasingly extraordinary events.