On Howard Barker

This week, I had the chance to interview top penman Howard Barker, whose latest piece, Found in the Ground, opens at the Riverside Studios on 1 October. While doing my prep for the gig, with Pirate Dog gently warming my feet and occasionally allowing a little fart to escape from his lovely body, I listened again to an interview I did with Barker for theatreVOICE in 2004. Well, it couldn’t be described as my finest hour. Still, apart from the cold that made me sound drearier than usual, what I really like about that meeting is Barker’s articulacy. And don’t you just love the way I set ’em up and he knocks ’em down? I also love the sheer bite of his views on British theatre today. In a world where polite indifference is our common currency, the one who really cares will always come across as genuinely subversive. And Barker really cares.

© Aleks Sierz

British theatre Found in the Ground Howard Barker playwriting Riverside Studios theatreVOICE