On Australian Day 2007 he was installed as a Member of the Order of Australia for service to the performing arts as a director, actor, writer, composer and educator.
[1] While a student he appeared as Robert in the Sydney University Players' rendition of Peter Ustinov's play The Indifferent Shepherd in August 1953.
Clarke wrote three musicals to book and lyrics by Nick Enright:[7] The Venetian Twins (cast album, Folkways Records), produced by all state theatre companies, and toured; Variations (Winner of the Play Award, New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards, 1983)[8] not seen since its original Nimrod Theatre production runs in 1982 and 1983; and Summer Rain,[9] commissioned by NIDA for the graduating class of 1984 and directed by Gale Edwards, later revised three times for productions at the Sydney and Queensland Theatre Companies.
[1][7] Leonard Glickfeld of The Australian Jewish News reviewed its performance at Russell Street Theatre, Melbourne in December 1973.
[7][12] He worked with set and costume designer Tim Kobin to eschew the traditional pantomime renditions and depict the titular pirates as "predators, feral, and at the same time like boys who get dirty, tattooed.