Howard Barker ’ s Theatre : Wrestling with Catastrophe

Howard Barker’s Theatre: Wrestling with Catastrophe, edited by James Reynolds and Andy W. Smith, sets out to provide “a timely and much-needed re-evaluation” (1) of Howard Barker and the theatre company founded to stage his work, The Wrestling School. The timeliness and necessity of the collection is, in part, due to the more “practice-orientated” (1) focus of its various contributions. Where previous studies and collections have tended to concentrate on the “literary qualities” (1) of the Barker text, Wrestling with Catastrophe treats the play-text as a “template for performance” (1) – reflecting on the unique practical challenges (and opportunities) posed by the Barker text.1 Yet the “timeliness” and “necessity” of the intervention is, for Reynolds and Smith, also owing to the present state of UK theatre. The relative underrepresentation of Barker in the UK theatre landscape and the increasing marginalisation of The Wrestling School – culminating in the withdrawal of Arts Council funding in 2007 – is for Reynolds and Smith “a damning indictment of the residual cultural conservatism of the UK theatre industry” (15). Wrestling with Catastrophe sets out to challenge the “myths” (2) and “misperceptions” (17) which have led to that marginalization, challenging the routinized idea that Barker is