Max Le Blond is an important Singapore English-language theatre director and academic. He was instrumental in the creation and development of a Singapore theatre that featured a Singaporean identity and character, showcasing Singaporean actors in locally written plays and local theatrical adaptations that contained Singaporean narratives and vernacular. His efforts encouraged other theatre practitioners to embrace their Singapore identities, and inspired the formation of English-language theatre companies such as ACT 3 Theatrics, TheatreWorks and The Necessary Stage. In 1987, he received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to theatre in Singapore.

Born in 1950 in Singapore, Max Le Blond developed a love of English literature and drama in his childhood, influenced by his father who introduced him to works by Shakespeare and poetry. Le Blond attended St. Joseph's Institution where he became a member of the school debate team and the drama club. Acting in plays in primary school, he went on to become a member of production crews in secondary school.

In 1969, Le Blond started attending the University of Singapore. There, he met Chandran K. Lingam, whose enthusiasm and unrelenting commitment to theatre inspired Le Blond to go into theatre, and he acted in theatre productions while studying at the university. During this period, he had his first taste of directing. While involved as an actor in a production of the musical Kismet, Chandran, the director, fell ill and could not attend a rehearsal, and asked Le Blond to stand in for him as an assistant director. Le Blond found that he enjoyed the role immensely.

Le Blond went on to obtain his Ph.D at the University of Birmingham, UK with a thesis on contemporary British drama, whose revolutionary working-class playwrights and sensibilities informed his views on Singapore theatre. After which, he began his academic career, becoming a senior tutor of English Literature at the university. Around this time, he was asked by Reginald Hugh Hickling, a visiting law professor at the university, to direct a legal drama that he had written for the opening of the Law Faculty’s moot court. From there, Le Blond continued pursuing his passion for theatre as a Singapore theatre director.

However, his early experiences in Singapore English-language theatre troubled him. Colonial mindsets lingered in Singapore’s early post-independence years, with Le Blond describing it in 1986 as "a world shackled by a colonial consciousness and a colonial view of reality".

Although the '60s saw the beginnings of a Singapore English theatre with works by writers such as Goh Poh Seng who introduced Singlish to the stage, the number of locally written works staged remained small and were paid little attention by expatriate and English-speaking audiences and critics. English-language based activities such as English-language theatre were still dominated by expatriates and an elite minority detached from the social realities of the vast majority of Singaporeans.

In both his academic capacity and in his theatre practice, Le Blond started advocating "Singaporean-ness". He called for Singaporean theatre practitioners to embrace their Singaporean identity and emphasised Singapore’s potential for the creation of a great dramatic tradition. He started staging the original and adapted works of Singapore playwrights and casting Singaporean actors in productions, infusing the English-theatre scene with a colloquial sensibility and flavour.

It was in the '80s that his directorial efforts truly took shape. The decade saw the emergence of an English-educated middle class that had developed from working class origins. This new community was rooted in its local heritage and social reality and fostered a generation eager for local dramatic works.

During this period, Max directed numerous plays. These included Asian-American works such as F.O.B. (1982) by David Henry Hwang, Singapore adaptations of English works such as the comedy Nurse Angamuthu’s Romance (1981) based on Peter Nichol’s National Health, as well as original works such as Robert Yeo’s One Year Back Home (1980), Stella Kon’s Emily of Emerald Hill (1985) and Eleanor Wong’s Peter’s Passionate Pursuit (1988). One Year Back Home, featuring "localised" dialogue, was a hit with theatre audiences and enjoyed full houses for every night of its run. The following year, the similarly well-received Nurse Angamuthu’s Romance was celebrated for its naturalistic use of Singapore English.

Le Blond’s staging of Emily of Emerald Hill at the Singapore Drama Festival in 1985—the play’s Singapore debut after its first staging in Malaysia the previous year by theatre director Chin San Sooi—brought him much acclaim and went on to bring Singapore theatre to the international stage. The play enjoyed a successful run at the Commonwealth Arts Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1986, and was invited back to the city for another run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the same year.

A monodrama focused on the recollections of Emily Gan, a Peranakan matriarch, Emily of Emerald Hill broke new ground with its story of a traditional Straits-born woman living through rapid societal changes, all related in Singapore English with all its colourful, hybrid expressions. The production resonated deeply with audiences and, together with Le Blond’s other academic, literary and directorial efforts, paved the way for an emerging theatre that could truly be called Singaporean.

A newfound belief and enthusiasm for Singapore English-language theatre arose, inspiring the formation of several English-language theatre companies in the '80s including ACT 3 Theatrics, TheatreWorks and The Necessary Stage, and heralding the growth of the English-language theatre scene in Singapore.

In 1987, Le Blond received the Cultural Medallion for his contributions to theatre in Singapore.

Besides his directing work, Le Blond contributed his expertise as chairman of the drama sub-committee of the Advisory Council on Culture and the Arts and a member of the Arts Resource Panel for the National Arts Council. He also served as president of the Experimental Theatre Club, and as artistic advisor of Practice Performing Arts.Centre (now Theatre Practice), The Substation and the Singapore Repertory Theatre. He also wrote and published scholarly articles on theatre and edited compilations of plays, including Prize Winning Plays: Vol. 1 and Modern ASEAN Plays, Singapore.

He currently resides in Sydney, Australia with his wife and two daughters, working as a part-time English Literature teacher who teaches drama occasionally.