Our People
Clare Prenton
Clare is a UK based theatre, musical theatre and opera director and writer as well as book/lyric writing for musicals.
Training: The Royal National Theatre Studio, London after reading English at The University of Leeds and Theatre Production at the University of Hull
Credits: Clare has directed for Regents Park Open Air Theatre, English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park and new writing company - Tete a Tete Opera. Clare was a regular Associate Director for Sir Alan Ayckbourn and the Stephen Joseph Theatre Company, Scarborough 2008-2014, on UK tours of Ayckbourn premieres and revivals directed by Ayckbourn: ‘Roundelay', 'Life of Riley', 'Life and Beth', 'Communicating Doors' and 'A Trip to Scarborough’. For the SJT she has directed the work of Nick Warburton for the SJT, Scarborough a tour of North Yorkshire: 'Cover Her Feet' & 'The Smoking Gun'. Other new writing credits include 'Class Act' (Traverse Theatre), 'A Certain Degree of Stress' (Liverpool Playhouse Studio) and this year the new comedy 'The Golden F***ing Years' by Adrian McLoughlin (who recently played Stalin, in 'Death of Stalin') for Vital Signs Productions at the Jack Studio Theatre, Brockley, London.
Clare was Director of the Stafford Shakespeare Festival 2015-2018, a 1,000 seat open air theatre since 2015, with large cast, acclaimed productions of Othello (2016) The Tempest (2017) and Macbeth (2018). She also directed Ayckbourn’s Improbable Fiction for Pitlochry Festival Theatre (2015) and Hard Times by Stephen Jeffreys after Dickens (2016) and as associate at Cumbernauld Theatre 'A Different Way Home' (2014).
Clare also writes plays and musical theatre book and lyrics and has collaborated with a number of UK composers, most regularly with Craig Adams on two new large cast musicals for Youth Music Theatre, UK 'Ghosts of the Past' and 'The Watchers’ and ‘Defect', a large cast rock/pop musical in development with Craig Adams/Perfect Pitch Musicals Ltd which premiered at Arts Educational School (2015). In 2019 Clare has been writing her own work including ‘Finding Mary’ and developing a new play 'The Waiting Room' with writer Vivien Reid. She is also planning further development of ‘Shadowthief', a family dance theatre piece written with Craig Adams and with choreography by Sally Marie of dance company Sweetshop Revolution.
