Writing under the name John Hamilton May, Max’s first play, The Room, won the Barclay Writing Award, judged by Sir Alan Ayckbourn. His work has been seen in venues across the U.K, including The Other Palace, the Roundhouse, the Tricycle, Leeds Playhouse, Contact Manchester, Northern Stage, the Tron and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He received his North American debut in 2013 with Baby Blue, and an award-winning Spanish translation of Love in the Past Participle was produced in Madrid in 2016.

Max was the winner of the BBC Verb New Voices Award and has been shortlisted for BBC Opening Lines and the Perfect Pitch Award. Max is a graduate of the Soho and Tricycle young writers’ schemes.

Max was the CEO of Rural Arts, an Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation, and is now a freelance arts consultant and fundraiser.