That Good Between Us (Playscripts S.) - Softcover

Barker, Howard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714537659 ISBN 13: 9780714537658

Publisher: Calder Publications Ltd, 1980

About this title

About the Author

Barker has been counted among the most controversial of British
Playwrights after emerging in the early 70s as one of the Royal Court
school of writers. He soon abandoned social realism, social satire and
fantasy in favour of the unique fusion of surrealism and Greek tragedy. He
is a prolific writer, with a large theatrical output complimented by many
volumes of poetry as well as essay anthologies.

Barker has broadly followed the line of theatre created by Brecht and Bond,
yet he is an individual whose style shows a different development from his
contemporaries, characterised by his vivacity and linguistic verve.
Barker's plays explore power, sexuality and human behaviour with a poetic
and compelling language that overflows with ideas, beauty, violence and
rich, dark comedy.

In more recent work, Barker has moved further into a world of alternative
history and myth. His brand of theatre - `The Theatre of Catastrophe' -
echos the concerns and anxieties of modern life; it is catastrophe, either
collective or individual, that looms over all of us. The power of his
writing, the fertility of his imagination, and the depth of his dramatic
invention and stage-craft make Barker, without question, one of the major
voices of the modern theatre.

There have been numerous productions of his work in the major national
theatres of Europe, Australia and North America. In Britain, aside from
productions by the Royal Court, Royal Shakespeare Company and some regional
and experimental theatres such as The Almeida in London, Barker's plays are
also toured by a specialised theatre company called 'The Wrestling School'
- a company dedicated solely to the work of Barker whose productions are
often directed by the playwright himself.

Barker is the prototypal literary figure for the new millennium - a
myth-maker of the highest order who probes the past to speculate on the
future, presenting the world in new forms and imprinting in the memory
unforgettable images and metaphors.

Edition details

• Publisher: Calder Publications Ltd
• Publication date: 1980
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0714537659
• ISBN 13: 9780714537658
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 108