Refuse to Dance. The theatre of Howard Barker - ACE165.5

The Castle Press Night. Sheila Fox of City Limits and Michael Billington of The Guardian discussing the play. He finds the play "ambiguous". She finds Barker "patronising". Benedict Nightingale talking about his reactions to Barker’s work. Barker. VO "But of course the plays contradict themselves. They have to contradict themselves…" Nightingale on The Castle. Mottram quotes an unsympathetic review by Milton Shulman and then says that the audience brings its own knowledge to a play. Calder believes that "Barker forces us to face reality…" McDiarmid "The newspapers are lies. The newspapers obviously…" Caption: "DOWNCHILD. Written in 1979." McDiarmid as the Art Critic, folding newspaper into a hat. "I thought, when I began my column, when I invented Cockie’s ‘Window on the World’, to set two squalors side by side…" Mottram suggesting that it’s important for audiences to be supportive of "this kind of play" in contemporary society.