Barker

CLIVE BARKER (1931 - 2005)

Clive Barker was born in Middlesbrough, and after national service he looked for work in the theatre. Stints of packing props for ballet companies, and sweeping stages while great actors threw tantrums, gave him a healthy scepticism of the profession. He was, however, among the first to see the importance of play, and its roots in childhood, for professional actor training. This insight was important, but the way in which he linked it to bodily awareness, posture, movement and spontaneity - though clearly part of longer traditions - was his alone. His book, Theatre Games (1977), was enormously influential for theatre practitioners and teachers in many countries. Its freshness of thought and imaginative instruction was presented in a highly accessible form, astutely combining practical advice, a digest of games, and stimulating theories.

Barker was involved in Arnold Wesker's Centre 42 project, and with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the height of its success, acting in Brendan Behan's ‘The Hostage’ (1958) and learning to die, as he was fond of relating, in 12 different ways for ‘Oh! What A Lovely War’ (1963). He made his directorial debut with Shelagh Delaney's ‘The Lion In Love’ (1960).

For some two decades following Theatre Games, he worked on the international theatre workshop circuit, at the highest levels. He was also a steadfast champion of alternative theatre. For many years, he was on the board of the prison theatre group Geese and, more recently gave unstinting support to the learning disability company Shysters. Even on the day he died, he was with a drama group of children with cerebral palsy.

For 25 years, Barker was an editor of the Theatre Quarterly (subsequently New Theatre Quarterly) and he encouraged its down-to-earth approach to scholarship by always being in touch with the ‘shop floor’ of theatre. He also produced a string of still undervalued, uncollected essays. Most recently, he co-edited, with Maggie B Gale, British Theatre Between the Wars, 1918-1939 (2000).

Myers Literary Guide:	The North-East
CLIVE BARKER (1931 - 2005) Clive Barker was born in Middlesbrough, and after national service he looked for work in the theatre. Stints of packing props for ballet companies, and sweeping stages while great actors threw tantrums, gave him a healthy scepticism of the profession. He was, however, among the first to see the importance of play, and its roots in childhood, for professional actor training. This insight was important, but the way in which he linked it to bodily awareness, posture, movement and spontaneity - though clearly part of longer traditions - was his alone. His book, Theatre Games (1977), was enormously influential for theatre practitioners and teachers in many countries. Its freshness of thought and imaginative instruction was presented in a highly accessible form, astutely combining practical advice, a digest of games, and stimulating theories. Barker was involved in Arnold Wesker's Centre 42 project, and with Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the height of its success, acting in Brendan Behan's ‘The Hostage’ (1958) and learning to die, as he was fond of relating, in 12 different ways for ‘Oh! What A Lovely War’ (1963). He made his directorial debut with Shelagh Delaney's ‘The Lion In Love’ (1960). For some two decades following Theatre Games, he worked on the international theatre workshop circuit, at the highest levels. He was also a steadfast champion of alternative theatre. For many years, he was on the board of the prison theatre group Geese and, more recently gave unstinting support to the learning disability company Shysters. Even on the day he died, he was with a drama group of children with cerebral palsy. For 25 years, Barker was an editor of the Theatre Quarterly (subsequently New Theatre Quarterly) and he encouraged its down-to-earth approach to scholarship by always being in touch with the ‘shop floor’ of theatre. He also produced a string of still undervalued, uncollected essays. Most recently, he co-edited, with Maggie B Gale, British Theatre Between the Wars, 1918-1939 (2000).
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