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Howard Barker (born 1946) is a British playwright.
Barker describes his works using the term "Theatre of Catastrophe," and his plays often explore violence, sexuality, the desire for power, and human motivation.
In his writing, Barker usually makes little attempt to adhere to realism or a specific ideological message, and instead it is left to his audience to find meaning in what they see and hear on stage.
Barker frequently turns to historical events and famous texts for inspiration. His play Scenes from an Execution, for example, centers on the aftermath of the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and a fictional artist commissioned to create a commemorative painting of the Venetian victory over the Ottoman fleet. The short play Judith revolves around the Biblical story of Judith, the legendary heroine who decapitated the invading general Holofernes.
Though in his own country he is relatively unknown among modern playwrights, Barker's works have earned him a sizable following on the European mainland, and many of his plays have been translated into various languages. In Britain, a theatre company called the Wrestling School was formed in 1988 by admirers of Barker's works to produce the author's seldom-performed plays in his native country. Their name is an allusion to the idea that performers and other theatre professionals must "wrestle" with the ideas presented in the text before presenting them to the public, a notion of conflict and struggle in line with the spirit of Barker's writing.
Barker's plays include: Claw, Victory, The Love of a Good Man, The Power of the Dog, Scenes from an Execution, The Castle, The Europeans, A Hard Heart, Seven Lears, The Bite of the Night, The Possibilities, Rome, Hated Nightfall, Judith, The Gaoler's Ache for the Nearly Dead, He Stumbled, A House of Correction, Ursula; Fear of the Estuary, Wounds to the Face, Gertrude - The Cry, and Thirteen Objects.
Barker has also authored several volumes of poetry (Don't Exaggerate, The Breath of the Crowd, Gary the Thief, Lullabies for the Impatient, The Ascent of Monte Grappa, and The Tortman Diaries), an opera (Terrible Mouth with music by Nigel Osborne), and two collections of writings on the theatre (Arguments for a Theatre and Death, The One and The Art of Theatre).
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