HOWARD BARKER: POLITICS AND DESIRE Also by David Ian Rabey BRITISH AND IRISH POLITICAL DRAMA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY How-ard Barker: Politics and Desire An Expository Study of his Drama and Poetry, 1969-87 David Ian Rabey Palgrave Macmillan ISBN 978-1-349-19912-9 ISBN 978-1-349-19910-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-19910-5 © David Ian Rabey 1989 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1989 All rights reserved. For information, write y Scholarl and Reference Division St. Martin's Press, Inc., 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010 First published in the United States of America in 1989 ISBN 978-0-312-02351-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rabey, David Ian, 1958- Howard Barker: politics and desire: an expository study of his drama and poetry, 1969-87/David Ian Rabey p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 978-0-312-02351-5 1. Barker, Howard—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Politics in literature. I. Title PR6052.A6485Z861989 823'.914—dc 19 88-15795 CIP Dedicated to Cyflwyniedig i the members and spirit of aeloaau ac i ysbryd The Lurking Truth Theatre Company Cwmni'r Gwir Sy'n Llechu Makhmadera! We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their powers from the consent of the governed. That wherever any form of Government becomes destructive of those ends, it is the right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government. Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence There was no government ... does anyone remember ... there was none ... there was none ... there was none ... ! The Castle power goes to those who want it most Peter Flannery, Our Friends in the North It is like love you have to want Do you want to be saved said Christ Do you want it ' Do you want Don't Exaggerate The truth can't hurt you, it's just like the dark It scares you witless, but in time you see things clear and stark Declan MacManus/Elvis Costello, 'I Want You' Oh, listen, our love plunged through all layers of affection, burst longing, split open desire, struck seams not of comfort but of truth! We humiliate our long adventure if we draw back from its message! Women Beware Women Contents Acknowledgements ix 1 Lubricating Progress through the Forbidden 1 2 Innocence and Authority 10 One Afternoon on the 63rd Level of the North Face of the Pyramid ofCheops the Great, Henry V in Two Parts, Herman, with Millie and Mick 3 Independence and the Family 16 Cheek, No One Was Saved, Edward - The Final Days, Alpha Alpha, Claw, Stripwell, Skipper, My Sister and I 4 Between Two Worlds 42 Wax, Heroes of Labour, Fair Slaughter, That Good Between Us, Credentials ofa Sympathiser, The Hang of the Gaol, Birth on a Hard Shoulder, The Loud Boy's Life, Downchild 5 New Manner for New Situation 84 No End of Blame, Pity in History, Scenes from an Execution 6 Landscapes of Shame, Eruptions of Desire 101 The Love of a Good Man, Crimes in Hot Countries, The Poor Man's Friend, The Blow 7 Splintered Faith and Scar Tissue 123 Victory, A Passion in Six Days, The Power of the Dog 8 Power and the Body 154 The Castle, Women Beware Women 9 Every Man's Evil Expresses Me 184 Don't Exaggerate, The Breath of the Crowd vii viii Contents 10 Pain and Breakthrough 210 The gash of knowledge: The Bite of the Night Cracked statues: The Europeans 11 Catastrophe is also Birth: Inconclusion 243 The Possibilities, Gary the Thief, Gary Upright Appendix: Conversations 254 Penny Downie Paul Freeman Gary Oldman Maggie Steed Robert Wilcher Harriet Walter Ian McDiarmid Notes 287 Bibliography 293 Index 296 Acknowledgements The author and publishers wish to thank Howard Barker and Judy Daish Associates Ltd who have kindly given permission for the use of copyright material and made available copies of as yet unpublished Barker work. How many breaths in a gale? This book would have been impoverished without the contributions of certain people. I wish to record my personal appreciation of them: My editor at Macmillan, Frances A. Arnold, for her support of this project; Roger Gregory (BBC Pebble Mill) for finding me copies of the trio of early radio plays; John O'Brien and the Dublin Players cast of the 1984 stage production of Pity in History, particularly Roddy Gibson, John O'Donohue, Stephen Bradley, Eimer Walsh and Donald Clarke; my fellow Europeans Lars Burman and Carina Persson-Burman for their hospitality and understanding during a difficult period; Stephen Booth (from whom I have stolen the title INCONCLUSIQN) for the enduring value of his teaching; Marian Rooney for advice and support; Rosalind Reedman for permission to quote from her essay; Penny Downie, Paul Freeman, Gary Oldman, Maggie Steed, Robert Wilcher, Harriet Walter and Ian McDiarmid for their conversation, interest and encouragement, of which the printed words are only partial evidence; and my fellow members of the Lurking Truth Theatre Company/Cwmni'r Gwir Sy'n Llechu, particularly Jacqui Burgess, Ian Cooper, Debi Gilbert, Suzan Holding, George Jones, Alistair Kerr, Prys Lewis, Ian Lucas, Richard Lynch, Eddie Maddox, Gwenith Owen, Roger Owen, Charmian Savill and Eric Schneider, for their energy, faith, purpose, imagination and insistence. In apparent contradiction of the general dedication, I wish to specify that Independence and the Family is dedicated to my parents Ken and Roma Rabey for their careful negotiation of the minefield; Pain and Breakthrough and Catastrophe is also Birth are dedicated to Charmian Savill; deepest gratitude to these and to O'Brien, Jones, Cooper, Lucas and Lynch (the man I blame for all this) for all they have proved and given. ix