Higginson, Craig (South Africa)

Craig Higginson is a novelist, playwright, theatre director, dramaturge, editor and university lecturer. His first play, Laughter in the Dark, an adaptation of Nabokov’s novel, opened at the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) in 2000. He later adapted it as a radio play for BBC Radio 3. It won the Sony Gold Award for Best Radio Drama in the UK for 2004-5. His first original play, Dream of the Dog, opened in Grahamstown and the Market Theatre in 2007 and was at the Hilton Festival in 2008. In 2010, Dream of the Dog opened at the Finborough in London and transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End. Dream of the Dog has been published by Wits Press and Oberon Books and is a university setwork. The Girl in the Yellow Dress is Craig’s second original play. It opened in Grahamstown in 2010, transferred to the Baxter Theatre (Cape Town), the Traverse Theatre (for the duration of the Edinburgh Festival), Live Theatre (Newcastle), the Citizens Theatre (Glasgow), the Stadsteater (Stockholm) and then the Market Theatre (Johannesburg). This play is also published by Oberon Books (now in its second print run). Craig co-wrote Truth in Translation and Ten Bush, both of which have toured widely internationally, and adapted and co-adapted several other works into plays for the Market Theatre. His version of The Jungle Book will be published by Oberon in 2011. Craig’s published novels include The Hill (2005, Jacana), Last Summer (2010, Picador Africa) and The Landscape Painter (2011, Picador Africa). Craig’s third play, Little Foot, has been commissioned by the Royal National Theatre for the 2012 Connections festival, which takes place at the National Theatre and throughout the UK.

Directing highlights include Laughter in the Dark (RSC, co-director), Edward III (RSC, staged reading), Blood Wedding (Pegasus Theatre, Oxford), Grimm Tales (Market Theatre), Dream of the Dog (Hilton Festival and SAFM), The Perfect Circle (which he wrote for the Wits students) and The Jungle Book (Market Theatre).

Craig’s writing and directing have been nominated for and won several awards in South Africa and the United Kingdom, including the Sony Gold Award, an Edinburgh Fringe First and a Naledi Award for Best New South African play. He is the Literary Manager and dramaturge at the Market Theatre and teaches playwriting at Wits. His plays and fiction are represented by PFD literary agency in London. He is currently doing his PhD at Wits University.