Howard Barker Quotes

• I never 'say' anything in my work. I invent a world. Let others decide what is being 'said'.

  Howard Barker

  Say Anything, World, Said

  48 Copy quote

• We are suffocated by writers who want to enlighten us with their truths. For me, the theatre is beautiful because it is a secret, and secrets seduce us, we all want to share secrets.

  Howard Barker

  Beautiful, Secret, Theatre

  21 Copy quote

• Tragedy is the greatest art form of all. It gives us the courage to continue with our life by exposing us to the pain of life. It is unsentimental, it takes us seriously as human beings, it is not condescending. Paradoxically, by seeing pain we are made greater, it becomes a need.

  Howard Barker

  Art, Pain, Giving

  18 Copy quote

• Theatre should be a taxing experience: the greatest achievement of a writer is to produce a character who creates anxiety.

  Howard Barker

  Character, Achievement, Anxiety

  "Howard Barker: 'I don't care if you listen or not'". Interview with Maddy Costa, www.theguardian.com. October 01, 2012.

  11 Copy quote

• I don't like sympathetic characters.

  Howard Barker

  Character, Sympathetic

  "Howard Barker: 'I don't care if you listen or not'". Interview with Maddy Costa, www.theguardian.com. October 01, 2012.

  11 Copy quote

• A good play puts the audience through a certain ordeal.

  Howard Barker

  Play, Certain, Ordeals

  "Howard Barker: 'I don't care if you listen or not'". Interview With Maddy Costa, www.theguardian.com. October 1, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• When I write, I am not giving a lecture, I am speculating on behavior. Sometimes this is dangerous, but it should be. As I say often, theatre is a dark place and we should keep the light out of it.

  Howard Barker

  Writing, Dark, Light

  7 Copy quote

• I'm not interested in observed reality.

  Howard Barker

  Reality, Not Interested

  11 Copy quote

• I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly.

  Howard Barker

  Play, Rejection, Theatre

  11 Copy quote

• It is impossible - now, at this point in the long journey of human culture - to avoid the sense that pain is necessity; that it is neither accident, nor malformation, nor malice, nor misunderstanding, that it is integral to the human character both in its inflicting and in its suffering, this terrible sense Tragedy alone has articulated, and will continue to articulate, and in so doing, make beautiful...

  Howard Barker

  Beautiful, Pain, Character

  Howard Barker (2004). “Death, The One and the Art of Theatre”, p.105, Routledge

  4 Copy quote

• I am so far as I am aware not at all influenced by dramatists, expect for Shakespeare, who I have to say, it is impossible not to be influenced by if you hold language to be the major element of theatre.

  Howard Barker

  Theatre, Elements, Impossible

  4 Copy quote

• I’ve often taken important classical, biblical or literary stories and interrogated them. I have tried to reinvigorate Lot by interpreting it differently.

  Howard Barker

  Taken, Biblical, Important

  4 Copy quote

• I'm not interested in entertainment.

  Howard Barker

  Entertainment, Not Interested

  "Howard Barker: 'I don't care if you listen or not'". Interview with Maddy Costa, www.theguardian.com. October 1, 2012.

  4 Copy quote

• The artist who makes himself accessible is self-destructive.

  Howard Barker

  Artist, Self, Self Destructive

  7 Copy quote

• You emerge from tragedy equipped against lies. After the musical, you're anybody's fool

  Howard Barker

  Lying, Musical, Tragedy

  4 Copy quote

• I have plenty of political views and plenty of social and personal prejudices. I do not, however, value them.

  Howard Barker

  Views, Political, Prejudice

  7 Copy quote

• I believe in poetic discourse, in the value of speech in a non-naturalistic way; it's speculative.

  Howard Barker

  Believe, Speech, Way

  4 Copy quote

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