Arteles Catalogue 2023-2020

Silence Awareness Existence program / FEBRUARY 2022
Jo Clifford
Scotland
www.queenjesusproductions.com
About
I’m a playwright and a performer, a proud father and
grandmother.
I’ve written about 114 plays in most dramatic mediums. A
lot of my work has been performed all over the world. Last
year we filmed and broadcast a live performance of my
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS QUEEN OF HEAVEN from
an Edinburgh church, and broadcast 5 new short pieces from
an Edinburgh cathedral.
Sister Death
I wanted to confront my own fear of death in a community of
artists; and to create a theatre/performance/ritual/happening
that would help me and help my audience look death in the
eye, acknowledge and overcome our fear of death. So as to
find more joy in life.
And with the help of meditation, of blundering about in the
snow, sharing love and affection and the sauna with my fellow
artists, I did that. And shared the result. And it felt good.
I wrote and performed my radio play SLUG LOVE in January
and performed it live in July as part of Trans Vegas in a
Manchester car park.
I also wrote and performed “Leith” for BBC Radio 4 as part of
their “United Kingdoms” series.
I wrote and performed a poem for the “LGBTI Coming Back
Out Ball” at the National Theatre of Scotland, and another
for the unveiling of the Hope Statue in Glasgow (and it’s
engraved at the base of the statue in stone).
With my co-writer and performer I rehearsed and developed
our THE NOT SO UGLY DUCKLING for performance later this
year.
I co-wrote and performed THE COVID REQUIEM in the
woods behind Pitlochry Theatre in the Scottish Highlands.
The Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh re-opened after lockdown
with a beautiful and highly successful production of my
translation of Calderon’s LIFE IS A DREAM.
I’ve come to Arteles to devise a performance/ritual to
empower its public to confront our fear of death.