Martha Clarke (born June 3, 1944) is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions.
Her best-known original work is The Garden of Earthly Delights (1984, re-imagined 2008), an exploration in theatre, dance, music and flying of the famous painting of the same name by Hieronymus Bosch.
Born and raised in Pikesville, Maryland (Baltimore), she studied dance with Carol Lynn and Dale Sehnert in the preparatory program of the Peabody Conservatory.
[3][4] Martha Clarke's many original productions include The Garden of Earthly Delights (with musical score by Richard Peaslee),[5][6] Vienna: Lusthaus[7] Miracolo d'Amore, Endangered Species, An Uncertain Hour, The Hunger Artist, Vers la Flamme, Chéri [8] and God's Fool.
[9] Angel Reapers (with text by Alfred Uhry – Pulitzer Prize for Driving Miss Daisy) had its New York premiere at the Joyce Theater November 29 – December 11, 2011.
Mel Gussow wrote in The New York Times Magazine: "In Martha Clarke's work, theater and dance are inseparable, unified into a style of performance that lacks a name but not a dimension.
New York Times critic Michael Kimmelman wrote of her Miracolo d'Amore in 1988 that it "... can be counted among the recent opera productions, films and theatrical presentations that in one way or another emulate painting.
Franco Zeffirelli, George Lucas, Pina Bausch, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Robert Wilson and Peter Sellars share with Clarke this striking characteristic: They view the performing arts as a pretext for staging visual spectaculars.