Out of Joint is a British and international touring theatre company based in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
. It specialises in the commissioning and production of new writing, interspersed with occasional revivals and classic productions.
It was founded in 1993 by director
Max Stafford-Clark
Maxwell Robert Guthrie Stewart "Max" Stafford-Clark (born 17 March 1941) is a British theatre director.
Life and career
Stafford-Clark was born in Cambridge, England. the son of David Stafford-Clark, a physician, and Dorothy Crossley (née Old ...
and producer
Sonia Friedman
Sonia Anne Primrose Friedman (born Freedman; born April 1965) is a British West End and Broadway theatre producer. On 27 January 2017, Friedman was named Producer of the Year for the third year running at The Stage Awards, becoming the first ...
. Stafford-Clark left the company in 2017 and its current Artistic Director is Kate Wasserberg, who joined the company in April 2017. Graham Cowley succeeded Friedman as producer in 1998. Upon his retirement in 2012 he was succeeded as producer by Panda Cox, who originally joined the company as Stafford-Clark's assistant. The company's current Executive Producer is Martin Derbyshire.
The company has premiered plays by established writers such as
David Edgar,
Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry (born 5 July 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021. He is noted for his lyrical literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers.
Barry's l ...
,
Richard Bean
Richard Anthony Bean (born 11 June 1956) is an English playwright.
Early years
Born in East Hull, Bean was educated at Hull Grammar School, and then studied social psychology at Loughborough University, graduating with a 2:1 BSc Hons. He then ...
,
Caryl Churchill,
April De Angelis
April De Angelis (born April 1960) is an English dramatist of part Sicilian descent. She is a graduate of Sussex University who trained at East 15 Acting School.
De Angelis began her career in the 1980s as an actress with the Monstrous Regimen ...
,
David Hare,
Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Rebecca Lenkiewicz (born 1968) is a British playwright and screenwriter. She is best known as the author of ''Her Naked Skin'' (2008), which was the first original play written by a living female playwright to be performed on the Olivier stage of ...
,
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include ''Shoppin ...
and
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...
, as well as work from first-time writers such as
Stella Feehily
Stella Anne Feehily (born 1969, London) is an Irish playwright and actor. Her plays include ''Game'' (2003), which was produced by Fishamble Theatre company, Dublin, and was published in an anthology of first plays by New Island. She is the au ...
and
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include ''Shoppin ...
. Classic productions include ''
She Stoops to Conquer
''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays from the 18t ...
'', ''
Three Sisters'' and ''
Macbeth''. The company has performed on 6 continents and has co-produced with theatres such as
The National Theatre,
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
,
Bush Theatre,
Hampstead Theatre
Hampstead Theatre is a theatre in South Hampstead in the London Borough of Camden. It specialises in commissioning and producing new writing, supporting and developing the work of new writers. Roxana Silbert has been the artistic director since ...
and
Sydney Theatre Company.
Productions
*2019 ''The Remains of the Day'' based on the novel by
Kazuo Ishiguro
Sir Kazuo Ishiguro ( ; born 8 November 1954) is a British novelist, screenwriter, musician, and short-story writer. Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, and moved to Britain in 1960 with his parents when he was five.
He is one of the most cr ...
adapted by Barney Norris
*2018 ''Close Quarters'' by Kate Bowen
*2017 ''Rita, Sue and Bob Too'' by
Andrea Dunbar
Andrea Dunbar (22 May 1961 – 20 December 1990) was an English playwright. She wrote ''The Arbor'' (1980) and ''Rita, Sue and Bob Too'' (1982), an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of teenage girls living in a run-down part of ...
*2017 ''Consent'' by
Nina Raine
Nina Raine is an English theatre director and playwright, the only daughter of Craig Raine and Ann Pasternak Slater, and a grand niece of the Russian novelist Boris Pasternak.
She graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1998 with a First in Eng ...
*2016 ''A View from Islington North'' by
Alistair Beaton
Alistair Beaton (born 1947) is a playwright and satirist, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter for Gordon Brown.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Beaton was educated at the ...
,
Caryl Churchill,
Stella Feehily
Stella Anne Feehily (born 1969, London) is an Irish playwright and actor. Her plays include ''Game'' (2003), which was produced by Fishamble Theatre company, Dublin, and was published in an anthology of first plays by New Island. She is the au ...
,
David Hare and
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include ''Shoppin ...
*2015 ''All That Fall'' by
Samuel Beckett
*2015 ''Jane Wenham: The Witch of Walkern'' by
Rebecca Lenkiewicz
Rebecca Lenkiewicz (born 1968) is a British playwright and screenwriter. She is best known as the author of ''Her Naked Skin'' (2008), which was the first original play written by a living female playwright to be performed on the Olivier stage of ...
*2015 ''Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage'' by
Robin Soans
Robin Soans (born 20 June 1946) is a British actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include ''Across the Divide'' (2007); ''A State Affair'' (2000) which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced ...
*2014 ''Pitcairn'' by
Richard Bean
Richard Anthony Bean (born 11 June 1956) is an English playwright.
Early years
Born in East Hull, Bean was educated at Hull Grammar School, and then studied social psychology at Loughborough University, graduating with a 2:1 BSc Hons. He then ...
*2014 ''This May Hurt A Bit'' by Stella Feehily
*2013 ''Ciphers'' by Dawn King
*2012 ''Fear Of Music'' by Barney Norris
*2012 ''Our Country's Good'' by
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...
*2011 ''Bang Bang Bang'' by Stella Feehily
*2011
Top Girls
''Top Girls'' is a 1982 play by Caryl Churchill. It centres around Marlene, a career-driven woman who is heavily invested in women's success in business. The play examines the roles available to women in old society, and what it means or takes fo ...
by
Caryl Churchill
*2011 ''A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson'' adapted by Russell Barr,
Ian Redford
Ian Petrie Redford (5 April 1960 – 10 January 2014) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a midfielder or forward. He played for Dundee before joining Rangers for a then Scottish record transfer fee. At Rangers he won in three d ...
and Max Stafford-Clark from
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer ...
's
The Life of Samuel Johnson
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...
and
The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides.
*2010 ''
The Big Fellah'' by
Richard Bean
Richard Anthony Bean (born 11 June 1956) is an English playwright.
Early years
Born in East Hull, Bean was educated at Hull Grammar School, and then studied social psychology at Loughborough University, graduating with a 2:1 BSc Hons. He then ...
*2010 ''Andersen's English'' by
Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry (born 5 July 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021. He is noted for his lyrical literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers.
Barry's l ...
*2009 ''Mixed Up North'' by
Robin Soans
Robin Soans (born 20 June 1946) is a British actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include ''Across the Divide'' (2007); ''A State Affair'' (2000) which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced ...
*2009 ''Dreams of Violence'' by Stella Feehily
*2008 ''The Convict's Opera'' by
Stephen Jeffreys
*2008 ''Testing the Echo'' by
David Edgar
*2007 ''Flight Path'' by David Watson
*2007 ''King of Hearts'' by
Alistair Beaton
Alistair Beaton (born 1947) is a playwright and satirist, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter for Gordon Brown.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Beaton was educated at the ...
*2006 ''The Overwhelming'' by
J. T. Rogers
J. T. Rogers is a multiple-award-winning, internationally recognized American playwright who lives in New York. Rogers has written several plays including ''Oslo'', '' Blood and Gifts'', ''The Overwhelming'', ''White People'', and ''Madagascar''. ...
*2006 ''O go my Man'' by Stella Feehily
*2005 ''
Talking to Terrorists
''Talking to Terrorists'' is a play written by Robin Soans. It was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds, England, on 21 April 2005.Soans, Robin. “Talking to Terrorists.” Oberon Books Ltd., 2005. London, UK. The play is wr ...
'' by
Robin Soans
Robin Soans (born 20 June 1946) is a British actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include ''Across the Divide'' (2007); ''A State Affair'' (2000) which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced ...
*2004 ''Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters'' by Russell Barr
*2004 ''Macbeth'' by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
*2003 ''Duck'' by Stella Feehily
*2003 ''
The Permanent Way'' by
David Hare
*2002 ''
She Stoops to Conquer
''She Stoops to Conquer'' is a comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, first performed in London in 1773. The play is a favourite for study by English literature and theatre classes in the English-speaking world. It is one of the few plays from the 18t ...
'' by
Oliver Goldsmith and ''A Laughing Matter'' by
April De Angelis
April De Angelis (born April 1960) is an English dramatist of part Sicilian descent. She is a graduate of Sussex University who trained at East 15 Acting School.
De Angelis began her career in the 1980s as an actress with the Monstrous Regimen ...
*2002 ''Hinterland'' by
Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry (born 5 July 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021. He is noted for his lyrical literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers.
Barry's l ...
*2001 ''Sliding with Suzanne'' by
Judy Upton
Judy Upton (born 1967) is a British playwright.
Life
She collaborated with Lisa Goldman at The Red Room Theatre Company.
She also wrote radio plays for the BBC.
''Ashes and Sand'' has been adapted into film.
Awards
*1994 George Devine Award, f ...
*2001 ''Feelgood'' by
Alistair Beaton
Alistair Beaton (born 1947) is a playwright and satirist, journalist, radio presenter, novelist and television writer. At one point in his career he was also a speechwriter for Gordon Brown.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Beaton was educated at the ...
*2000 ''Rita, Sue and Bob Too'' by
Andrea Dunbar
Andrea Dunbar (22 May 1961 – 20 December 1990) was an English playwright. She wrote ''The Arbor'' (1980) and ''Rita, Sue and Bob Too'' (1982), an autobiographical drama about the sexual adventures of teenage girls living in a run-down part of ...
and ''A State Affair'' by
Robin Soans
Robin Soans (born 20 June 1946) is a British actor, and a playwright specialising in verbatim and documentary plays. These plays include ''Across the Divide'' (2007); ''A State Affair'' (2000) which looked at life on a Bradford estate, produced ...
*1999 ''Some Explicit Polaroids'' by
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include ''Shoppin ...
*1999 ''Drummers'' by Simon Bennett
*1998 ''
Our Country's Good
''Our Country's Good'' is a 1988 play written by British playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker, adapted from the Thomas Keneally novel '' The Playmaker''. The story concerns a group of Royal Marines and convicts in a penal colony in New South Wales ...
'' by
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...
*1998 ''Our Lady of Sligo'' by
Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry (born 5 July 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021. He is noted for his lyrical literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers.
Barry's l ...
*1997 ''
Blue Heart'' by
Caryl Churchill
*1998 ''The Positive Hour'' by
April De Angelis
April De Angelis (born April 1960) is an English dramatist of part Sicilian descent. She is a graduate of Sussex University who trained at East 15 Acting School.
De Angelis began her career in the 1980s as an actress with the Monstrous Regimen ...
*1996 ''
Shopping and Fucking
''Shopping and Fucking'' (sometimes billed as ''Shopping and F**king'') is a 1996 play by English playwright Mark Ravenhill. It was Ravenhill's first full-length play. It received its first public reading at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1 ...
'' by
Mark Ravenhill
Mark Ravenhill (born 7 June 1966) is an English playwright, actor and journalist.
Ravenhill is one of the most widely performed playwrights in British theatre of the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. His major plays include ''Shoppin ...
*1995 ''
The Steward of Christendom
''The Steward of Christendom'' is a 1995 play written by Irish playwright Sebastian Barry. It focuses on Thomas Dunne, loosely based on Barry's great-grandfather, the former chief superintendent of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, now (1932) conf ...
'' by
Sebastian Barry
Sebastian Barry (born 5 July 1955) is an Irish novelist, playwright and poet. He was named Laureate for Irish Fiction, 2019–2021. He is noted for his lyrical literary writing style and is considered one of Ireland's finest writers.
Barry's l ...
*1995 ''
Three Sisters'' by
Anton Chekhov and ''The Break of Day'' by
Timberlake Wertenbaker
Timberlake Wertenbaker is a British-based playwright, screenplay writer, and translator who has written plays for the Royal Court, the Royal Shakespeare Company and others. She has been described in ''The Washington Post'' as "the doyenne of po ...
*1994 ''
The Man of Mode
''The Man of Mode, or, Sir Fopling Flutter'' is a Restoration comedy by George Etherege, written in 1676. The play is set in Restoration London and follows the womanizer Dorimant as he tries to win over the young heiress Harriet and to diseng ...
'' by
George Etherege
Sir George Etherege (c. 1636, Maidenhead, Berkshire – c. 10 May 1692, Paris) was an English dramatist. He wrote the plays '' The Comical Revenge or, Love in a Tub'' in 1664, '' She Would If She Could'' in 1668, and '' The Man of Mode o ...
and ''The Libertine'' by
Stephen Jeffreys
*1994 ''The Queen and I'' by
Sue Townsend and ''
Road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
'' by
Jim Cartwright
Jim Cartwright (born 27 June 1958) is an English dramatist, born in Farnworth, Lancashire. Cartwright's first play, ''Road'', won a number of awards before being adapted for TV and broadcast by the BBC. His work has been translated into more ...
References
*Stafford-Clark, M. and Roberts, P. (2007) ''Taking Stock: The Theatre of Max Stafford-Clark'', London: Nick Hern Books,
External reference
Out Of Joint website
{{authority control
Theatre companies in the United Kingdom
Theatre companies in London