Sydney theatregoers will be saddened to learn of the death of Irish-Australian actor and director Maeliosa Stafford, who died suddenly on 11 April, aged 66.

Stafford was a member of Galway’s Druid Theatre Company from 1978 at a time when the company was pivotal in generating worldwide interest in new Irish writing. As Artistic Director of Druid he collaborated with the poet Vincent Woods on At The Black Pig’s Dyke which toured to a number of major theatre festivals.  

As an actor, Stafford was involved in the premier productions of the work of future Oscar-winner Martin McDonagh, including The Lonesome West, which went on to win at the Olivier Awards on the West End and was nominated for four Tony awards on Broadway.

Maeliosa Stafford in Darlinghurst Theatre Company’s The Seafarers.

Co-founder of the Sydney-based theatre company O’Punksky’s (with fellow actor-directors Patrick Dickson and John O’Hare), Stafford directed their inaugural staging of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and starred in a number of its excellent productions, including Brian Friel’s Faith Healer (Old Fitzroy Theatre, 1999) and Tom Murphy’s The Gigli Concert (Old Fitzroy Theatre, 1999 and again in 2014).

He acted...