Howard Barker

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

“I don't like sympathetic characters.”

“I'm not interested in observed reality.”

“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.”

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

“A good play puts the audience through a certain ordeal.”

“I'm not interested in entertainment.”

“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.”

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

“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.”

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

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

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