Alan Stanford

For the American financier see Allen Stanford.

Alan Stanford (born 1949) is an English born actor, director and writer.

Personal life

Though originally from Liverpool, Alan Stanford's childhood was spent on the Isle of Wight in the South of England. He was an only child. He trained as an actor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Stanford moved to Ireland 1969 after touring there and eventually became an Irish citizen. As of 2011 became resident in the USA and is based in Pittsburgh.

Stanford's parents were John Stanford and Anne Kirkpatrick who raised him for most of his childhood in the Isle of Wight, however in 2010, at the age of 61, Stanford discovered that he had been adopted and that he shared a biological mother with 6 siblings of whom he is the eldest.

He has been married twice and has two sons from his second marriage.

Early career

As a director Stanford began his career in Ireland at the Project Arts Centre where his productions included works by Shaw, Arbuzov, Graham Greene, Brecht, Dürrenmatt and Shakespeare. He is Artistic Director of Second Age Theatre Company for whom he has directed many productions, most recently King Lear, Othello and Philadelphia Here I Come.

He directed for the Irish Theatre Company and many other independent companies.

For Storytellers (theatre company) he directed both The Mayor of Casterbridge and Oedipus.

For the Gate Theatre Dublin, Alan has directed Romeo and Juliet, Tartuffe, Present Laughter twice, Pride and Prejudice, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Great Expectations twice, A Tale of Two Cities, The Collection starring Harold Pinter, Lady Windermere's Fan twice, The Weeping of Angels, Cyrano de Bergerac, An Ideal Husband, A Christmas Carol, Arms and the Man, Oliver Twist, Blithe Spirit, Jane Eyre, Many Happy Returns, The Constant Wife, Private Lives, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Deep Blue Sea, The Old Curiosity Shop, The Real Thing, Endgame and God of Carnage

Theatre roles

His work as an actor includes roles from Shaw to Wilde, from Ibsen to Ayckbourn. He received a Harveys Theatre Award for Best Actor for his performance as Salieri in Amadeus and was nominated for three further performances - Astrov in Uncle Vanya, Higgins in Pygmalion and Valmont in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

During the Gate Theatre Beckett Festival he performed as Pozzo in Waiting for Godot and as Hamm in Endgame, performances he repeated to considerable critical acclaim at the Lincoln Center in New York and in Toronto, Melbourne at the Barbican Theatre in London and in both Beijing and Shanghai. His most recent stage appearances were at the Abbey Theatre as Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest and the Gate Theatre in Salome.

Other theatre work

Stanford's work as an adaptor for the stage include adaptations of Pride and Prejudice, Oliver Twist, The Old Curiosity Shop and Jane Eyre; all presented at the Gate Theatre; a new version of A Doll's House and a stage version of How Many Miles to Babylon?, for Second Age Theatre Company, as well as a screenplay of The Picture of Dorian Gray, which he had previously co-adapted for the stage with writer Gavin Kostick. He has also co-written and directed the two pantomimes at the Gaiety Theatre, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty.

His adaptations of both Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre have been presented in many theatres in both the USA and Canada. He is currently Executive and Artistic Director with PICT Classic Theatre in Pittsburgh USA.

Television and film work

His film and television work includes Educating Rita, The Irish R.M., The Treaty, The Hanging Gale, Moll Flanders, Michael Collins, Kidnapped, The American, Animal Farm, Waiting for Godot, and for many years the role of George Manning in RTÉ's Glenroe.

Arts Council

From 2006 to 2011 he was a member of the Arts Council of Ireland.