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Title: Brilliant, Pretentious, Searing, and Self-Loving
Review: Nobody does it like Howard Barker. One of the fiercest, funniest, most provocative playwrights the English language has ever known, he nonetheless remains little more than obscure in the U.S. This collection of essays are his thoughts on theatre and his own work. Firmly Nietzschean in his thought, Barker gleefully and convincingly rips conventioanl liberal and conserative pieties to shreds. And he exposes the moral and artistic bankruptcy of our current, naturalistic theatre. Barker is convinced he's oppressed (poor baby, he's been scorned by the National Theatre, relegated to those backwaters, the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Royal Court, among others) and that he's a genius. But don't take his word for it. Do yourself and those around you who love theatre a favor and read his plays, starting with his Collected Plays, Volume 1. I started reading Barker eight years ago, and I'm still blown away each time.
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