Terence Osborne Clarke ( AM) (born 1935) is a retired Australian theatrical director and composer who also worked as an actor, pianist, musical director, teacher and

dramaturg A dramaturge or dramaturg is a literary adviser or editor in a theatre, opera, or film company who researches, selects, adapts, edits, and interprets scripts, libretti, texts, and printed programmes (or helps others with these tasks), consults auth ...

. On Australian Day 2007 he was installed as a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

for service to the performing arts as a director, actor, writer, composer and educator.

Early life

Clarke was born in 1935 in Sydney and educated at

Shore A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

(resident St. Paul's College), graduating BA with first-class honours in Music. While a student he appeared as Robert in the Sydney University Players' rendition of Peter Ustinov's play ''The Indifferent Shepherd'' in August 1953. A reviewer for ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' observed, " ehad little to say but said it nicely". One of his fellow students at university was Charles Colman. After graduation Clarke taught at

All Saints' College, Bathurst All Saints' College was an independent, co-educational Christian college in the Anglican tradition. It was established in 1874, and closed in 2018 to merge with The Scots School, Bathurst, to form Scots All Saints' College, with campuses in an ...

(where he had attended primary school) and at

Cranbrook School, Sydney Cranbrook may refer to: People * Earl of Cranbrook, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ** Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook (1814–1906), British Conservative politician ** John Stewart Gathorne-Hardy, 2nd Earl of Cranbro ...

, where he became head of mathematics and in charge of drama.

Career

Terence Clarke's career has alternated between theatre work and teaching. While in England during 1959-1960 he acted at the

Marlowe Theatre The Marlowe Theatre is a 1,200-seat theatre in Canterbury named after playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was born and attended school in the city. It was named a Stage Awards, 2022 UK Theatre of the Year. The Marlowe Trust, a not for profi ...

, Canterbury. In 1970 he left teaching to return to theatre and music. During his theatre career he has worked as an actor, artistic director, composer, musical director, writer and pianist from 1963 to 2016. Early work was as actor and musical director at Nimrod Street Theatre, Darlinghurst. His appointments have included: Associate Director of Perth's National Theatre at the Playhouse where he also acted, composed and played piano; founding Artistic Director of the Hunter Valley Theatre Company, Australia's first professional regional theatre company; Artistic Director of the

Australian National Playwrights Conference Brian Gregory Syron (19 November 1934 – 14 October 1993) was an actor, teacher, Aboriginal rights activist, stage director and Australia's first Indigenous feature film director, who has also been recognised as the first First Nations feature ...

; and Head of Directing at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), where he continued to teach. He directed the world premieres of ''A Happy and Holy Occasion'' ( John O'Donoghue) and ''Backyard'' (Janis Balodis). He has taught at the West Australian Institute of Technology, the University of Newcastle, and the

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

, where he held a demi-lectureship for a year. Clarke wrote three musicals to book and lyrics by

Nick Enright Nicholas Paul Enright AM (22 December 1950 – 30 March 2003) was an Australian dramatist, playwright and theatre director. Early life Enright was born on 22 December 1950 to a prosperous professional Catholic family in East Maitland, New So ...

: ''The Venetian Twins'' (cast album, Folkways Records), produced by all state theatre companies, and toured; ''

Variations Variation or Variations may refer to: Science and mathematics * Variation (astronomy), any perturbation of the mean motion or orbit of a planet or satellite, particularly of the moon * Genetic variation, the difference in DNA among individua ...

'' (Winner of the Play Award,

New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards The New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, also known as the NSW Premier's Literary Awards, were first awarded in 1979. They are among the richest literary awards in Australia. Notable prizes include the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, t ...

, 1983) not seen since its original

Nimrod Theatre The Nimrod Theatre Company, commonly known as The Nimrod, was an Australian theatre company based in Sydney. It was founded by in 1970 by Australian actor John Bell, Richard Wherrett and Ken Horler, and gained a reputation for producing more "g ...

production runs in 1982 and 1983; and '' Summer Rain'', commissioned by NIDA for the graduating class of 1984 and directed by

Gale Edwards Gale Edwards (born 14 November 1954) is an Australian theatre director, who has worked extensively throughout Australia and internationally. She has also directed for television and film. Professional career Edwards began her career at Adelaid ...

, later revised three times for productions at the Sydney and Queensland Theatre Companies. His other compositions include: a ballad opera, '' Flash Jim Vaux'' (book and lyrics,

Ron Blair Ronald Edward Blair (born September 16, 1948 in San Diego, California) is an American musician notable for being the bassist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He was originally the band's bassist from 1976 to 1981. In 2002, he returned to the ...

). Leonard Glickfeld of ''

The Australian Jewish News ''The Australian Jewish News'' (''AJN'') is a newspaper published in Darlinghurst, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Since 2019 it has been a local partner of '' The Times of Israel''. History The ''AJN'' is descended from ''The Hebrew Stan ...

'' reviewed its performance at Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne in December 1973. Glickfeld praised Blair's writing including the ballads' lyrics, which were set to music by Clarke and Colman. However the lyrics "are not always matched by the quality or rhythms of the music... about four tunes which really work." Blair later dropped 'Vaux' from the play's title. Clarke also provided five plays with music - ''Catspaw'' and ''Jarrabin'' (both Dorothy Hewett), ''Lysistrata'' (John Croyston), ''Henry and Peter and Henry and Me'' ( George Hutchinson), and ''Gone with Hardy'' ( David Allen); incidental music; and song-settings.List of works
at Solee.com (paywall site) Late in 1992 he returned to Canberra to direct the

Canberra Theatre Canberra Theatre Centre (CTC), also known as the Canberra Theatre, is the Australian Capital Territory’s central performing arts venue and Australia’s first performing arts centre, the first Australian Government initiated performing arts c ...

's version of '' The Pirates of Penzance (or The Slave of Duty)'', which ran from 15 to 30 January 1993. Note: incorrectly dates ''Flash Jim Vaux'' debuting in 1972 instead of 1971 He worked with set and costume designer Tim Kobin to eschew the traditional

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

renditions and depict the titular pirates as "predators, feral, and at the same time like boys who get dirty, tattooed."

Honours

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove and raising of the Union Flag by Arthur Phillip following days of exploration of Port ...

(26 January) 2007 Clarke was appointed as a Member of the

"for service to the performing arts as a director, actor, writer, composer, and educator."

Theatre roles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Terence 1935 births Living people Australian theatre directors Members of the Order of Australia Australian male composers Australian composers Australian musical theatre composers People educated at Sydney Church of England Grammar School University of Sydney alumni