Glyn Maxwell & Alex Clifton: 20th October 2011

Glyn Maxwell was commissioned to write the highly successful Merlin and the Woods of Time for this year’s Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre with Alex Clifton as director. They talk about the writing process and how to turn a new play into an acclaimed production.

Glyn Maxwell is an established poet and dramatist. He has won several awards for his poetry, including the E.M. Forster Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. His poetry collection, Hide Now, was shortlisted for the Forward and T.S. Eliot Prizes. His latest collection, One Thousand Nights and Counting, was published this year. His plays include After Troy, an adaptation of Hecuba/The Women of Troy directed by Alex Clifton; and Liberty which premiered at The Globe.

Alex Clifton was born in Chester. He trained as a resident director with English National Opera and as an assistant director at the National Theatre, and is now a Senior Acting Teacher at RADA. His production of Glyn's The Only Girl in the World was named Time Out's Off West End production of the year. Alex passionately believes in the need to inspire an ensemble with a shared commitment to the power of narrative and to deliver performances that place language at the centre of the production.

‘Glyn Maxwell is the best dramatic poet now at work in English.’ Daily Telegraph

Supported by the Friends of the Chester Literature Festival