Howard Bakers Theatre

Outstanding David Ian Rabey University of Wales Aberystywtha unique resource in studying Barker who should be recognised as a majorcontemporary playwright Rho... » 

Outstanding David Ian Rabey University of Wales Aberystywtha unique resource in studying Barker who should be recognised as a majorcontemporary playwright Rhonda Blair Southern Methodist UniversityFrom a review of the first editionthe release of Lambs Howard Barkers Theatre of Seduction is a most welcomeevent. Lambs production work on Barkers plays.... provides him with asingular perspective from which to comment on the plays Theatre JournalThrough his powerful stage poetry Howard Barker creates a world peopled bycharacters who live at the extreme edges of experience and who challenge thevery limits of an actors imagination. In this second fully revised edition ofhis acclaimed study of Barkers work Charles Lamb sets out to make emotionalsense of the characters and their interactions.This leads to a detailed exploration of the scene of seduction thechallenge the secret the abject and the catastrophic processes whichdominate Barkers work. For Lamb the power of Barkers plays is to be found inthe exposure to the irrational and its promotion of a state of unknowing. Forstudents of Barker and for actors and directors working with this uniquematerial Lambs book is a vital and illuminating text. «