Claire van Kampen, theater director and the wife of Mark Rylance, was 71 when she died on his birthday on Saturday, Jan. 18, Rylance confirmed in a statement to PEOPLE.

Claire van Kampen, a composer, director, writer and frequent collaborator of her Oscar-winning husband Mark Rylance, died Saturday morning at age 71.

Claire van Kampen, a theater director, composer and wife of actor Mark Rylance, died Saturday morning. She was 71. Van Kampen died in Kassel, Germany, “surrounded by her family” following a battle with cancer, Rylance and her daughter Juliet shared in a statement. Saturday was also her husband’s 65th birthday.

Theater director and composer Claire van Kampen died of cancer Saturday at the age of 71 , according to a statement from her family.

Actor Mark Rylance and his family confirmed the death of Claire van Kampen on Saturday, January 18, at the age of 71

The wife of actor Sir Mark Rylance died after being diagnosed with cancer, a family statement confirms.

SIR Mark Rylance’s wife Claire Van Kampen has died aged 71. She passed away on Saturday in Kassel, Germany, on what is her husband’s 65th birthday surrounded by her family, after being

Claire van Kampen, the wife of actor Sir Mark Rylance, has died aged 71, it has been confirmed. The 71-year-old passed on Saturday (January 18) - Rylance's 65th birthday - in the German town of Kassel surrounded by her family after being diagnosed with cancer, according to a statement shared on behalf of Sir Mark and her daughter Juliet.

Director, composer and playwright Claire van Kampen, the wife of actor Sir Mark Rylance, has died aged 71 after being diagnosed with cancer.

Claire van Kampen, who has died from cancer aged 71, was a pianist, composer and playwright who made arrangements of Tudor-era music for the BBC TV series Wolf Hall, introduced Shakespearean-era instruments to Broadway theatres and wrote Farinelli and the King (2015),