Richard Stirling

Richard Stirling is an English writer and actor, who has appeared on film, television and the West End theatre and Off-Broadway stage. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). He has written arts features for newspapers and magazines. His 2009 play Seven Other Children was written as a response to Caryl Churchill's controversial play Seven Jewish Children.^[1]

He adapted the diaries of Cecil Beaton for performance, and played the title role. Following performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2022, to favourable reviews,^[2] Cecil Beaton's Diaries was selected to be part of the 2023 Brits Off Broadway season, playing at New York's 59E59 Theaters in May, before touring the UK.

Works

Books

• Julie Andrews: An Intimate Biography (Sunday Times Top Ten best seller,^{[citation needed]} UK Piatkus/Little Brown 2007; US St Martin's Press 2008; reprinted UK Little Brown 2013)

Plays

• Seven Other Children
• Over My Shoulder: The Jessie Matthews Story (starring Anne Rogers)^[3][4]
• Gay's the Word (revised version of the Ivor Novello/Alan Melville musical, starring Sophie-Louise Dann)
• A Princess Undone (starring Stephanie Beacham and subsequently Felicity Dean as Princess Margaret)^[5][6]
• Extraordinary Women (musical adaptation of the Compton Mackenzie novel, with score by Tony Award winner Sarah Travis)
• Cecil Beaton's Diaries

Selected roles

Film and television

• Eternal Return (Mervin Muffley) (2024)
• The Man Who Fell to Earth (Bird Man) (2022)
• Bridgerton (2022)
• The Crown (2020)
• The Princess Switch: Switched Again (2020)
• Scoop (Tinsley's Fan) (2006)
• Great Expectations (1999)
• Our Mutual Friend (Reverend) (1998)
• Mrs Dalloway (1997)
• The Choir (Lewis) (1995)
• The Secret Agent (Stevie) (1992)
• Jeeves and Wooster (Boko Fittleworth) (1990)
• War Requiem (Third Soldier; choreographer) (1989)
• Little Dorrit (John Chivery) (1987)