Howard Barker Quotes
16 quotes
in 237 categories
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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…
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It is impossible – now, at this point in the long journey of human culture – to avoid the sense that pain is necessity; that…
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You emerge from tragedy equipped against lies. After the musical, you're anybody's fool
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A good play puts the audience through a certain ordeal,
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I’ve often taken important classical, biblical or literary stories and interrogated them. I have tried to reinvigorate Lot by interpreting it differently.
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I never 'say' anything in my work. I invent a world. Let others decide what is being 'said'.
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I submit all my plays to the National Theatre for rejection. To assure myself I am seeing clearly.
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I believe in poetic discourse, in the value of speech in a non-naturalistic way; it's speculative.
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I don't like sympathetic characters.
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I have plenty of political views and plenty of social and personal prejudices. I do not, however, value them.
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I'm not interested in entertainment.
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I'm not interested in observed reality.
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Theatre should be a taxing experience: the greatest achievement of a writer is to produce a character who creates anxiety.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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