Howard Barker

Bernhard Reitz (Johannes Gutenberg Universität Mainz)
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When critic Claire Armistead reviewed Howard Barker’s

All He Fears

for the

Guardian

in 1994, she rhetorically asked her readers whether “this great eccentric of English playwriting [is] a prophet or a poseur, a wit or a fool?” This question reverberates in British theatre criticism until today, and whenever a new play by Barker is to be assessed, his standing and importance as a playwright is discussed anew. Although from the mid-seventies onwards there have been a few theatre critics who described Barker’s work as “promising”, the majority of British reviewers still tend to support those who have accused Barker of not heeding “our need for a story” (Eric Shorter in the

Daily Telegraph

, 1983), of having “remarkably little interest in dramatic construction or character…

2958 words

Citation: Reitz, Bernhard. "Howard Barker". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 April 2006 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5519, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5519 Howard Barker 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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