Craig Higginson

Books CV

 Craig Higginson is a novelist, playwright, theatre director and university lecturer. Previous fiction includes Embodied Laughter (Pan Macmillan) and The Hill (Jacana). His latest novel, Last Summer has just been published by Picador Africa, with his forthcoming novel, The Landscape Painter, due to be published by Picador Africa in February 2011. Craig’s plays include Dream of the Dog (currently showing at the Finsborough, London until 22nd May) and The Girl in the Yellow Dress (for production in 2010). He also co-wrote Truth in Translation and Ten Bush (both of which have travelled locally and internationally), adapted Laughter in the Dark (RSC, BBC R3) and Lord of the Flies (Market Theatre) and co-adapted The Jungle Book and Brer Rabbit (both Market Theatre). Craig had directed a range of productions in the United Kingdom and South Africa. 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 and directed for Wits students) and The Jungle Book (Market Theatre).

His writing and directing have been nominated for and won several awards in South Africa and the United Kingdom, including winning the Sony Gold Award for Best Radio Drama in the UK for Laughter in the Dark (2005) As a graduate of the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Craig won the Art’s Faculty Silver Medal. Dream of the Dog is currently a university set work in South Africa and the US and has been published by Wits University Press. As a dramaturge, Craig has worked with leading writers in South Africa and England. He has also worked extensively as a freelance editor of fiction and non-fiction. The directors he has assisted include Barney Simon, Tim Supple, Michael Attenborough and David Farr. Craig is the Literary Manager at the Market Theatre. He teaches Creative Writing at Wits. In 2010, he will begin his fifth novel as part of his PhD in Creative Writing at Wits.

Stage CV

Craig is the Literary Manager of Johannesburg's Market Theatre and has previously worked in the UK for such companies as the RSC, the Young Vic, the Hampstead and the Almeida. As a writer and director his work has been nominated for or won several theatre awards in South Africa and has toured internationally. 

Craig's first play, Laughter in the Dark (inspired by Nabokov's novel), premiered at the RSC in 2002. He later adapted it for BBC radio and it won a Gold Sony Award. His second play, Dream of the Dog, has appeared in various festivals in South Africa and is currently running at the Finborough Theatre in London where it opened to critical acclaim and five star reviews. Further information can be found here.

Craig's new play, The Girl in the Yellow Dress, will premiere in South Africa in 2010 and will then transfer to Edinburgh, LIVE and Glasgow with the Citizen's Theatre.

Directing highlights include Laughter in the Dark (RSC); Edward III (RSC, staged reading); Blood Wedding (Pegasus Theatre, Oxford); Grimm Tales (Market Theatre); Dream of the Dog (for the Hilton Festival and SAFM) and The Jungle Book (Market Theatre).

He is also a novelist and his fiction is published by Picador Africa in South Africa.