Refuse to Dance. The theatre of Howard Barker - ACE165.4

Parts of the Barbican complex. VO reading "I had a nightmare once. People spent their lives making something they called museum… And the museum grew until it covered England" Caption: "PITY IN HISTORY. One of Barker’s many plays for television. One of the few to have been transmitted. VO "The whole power of art is its disconcerting ability to burst the received wisdom of its own time...." Caption: "Barker’s first play was produced in London in 1970. He has survived as a playwright since that date." Terry Hands, Joint Artistic Director, Royal Shakespeare Company, talking about British theatre going through a period of depression which results in Barker’s sometimes difficult work appealing to a minority not only interested in escapism. McDiarmid "… Trust the digression, not the argument…" Hands likens Barker’s work to that of Genet and Artaud, both in content and popularity. Shot of Barker apparently listening. Nick Hamm, Director, RSC, believes there is a need and a market for "serious theatre", and that Barker’s work has "something important to say about the state of the country". Bill Alexander, Director, RSC, talking about the achievement of the recent RSC season of Barker’s work.
Hamm and Alexander considering the possibility of Barker making ‘concessions’ towards a more populist approach in order to communicate his ideas more widely. Barker listening. VO asking "How can you know where you’ll go with a work of art? It takes you further from knowledge the more risks you take…" McDiarmid "Art brings chaos into order… The final solution to the problem of art – it is a problem, after all – is to call it incomprehensible. To burn it only lends it grace." Barbican. West End theatres. Billboards. VO "I like confusion on the face of the audience. Engagement but confusion…" People on the streets. McDiarmid "Most acting in bad. Most theatres are crates of shame. The curtain falling on the sordid act like the skirt of the hired woman."