Editing Peter Barnes (playwright) (section)

==Biography==

===Early career===
Barnes was educated at [[Marling School]] in [[Stroud, Gloucestershire]] and performed his [[national service]] with the [[Royal Air Force]]. He then worked briefly for [[London County Council]].<ref name=telegraph>{{Cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1466176/Peter-Barnes.html|title=Peter Barnes|date=4 July 2004|via=www.telegraph.co.uk}}</ref>

Bored with his job, Barnes took a [[correspondence course]] in [[theology]] and began to visit the [[British Museum Reading Room]], which he used as an office on a daily basis.<ref name=guardian>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jul/05/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Obituary: Peter Barnes|website=[[TheGuardian.com]] |date=5 July 2004}}</ref> During this period he worked as a [[film critic]], story editor, and a screenwriter.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/dramatist-celebrated-subversive-power-of-laughter-1.1148656|title=Dramatist celebrated subversive power of laughter|newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref> He achieved critical and box-office success with his [[baroque]] comedy ''The Ruling Class'' (1968), which debuted at the [[Nottingham Playhouse]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk/about-us/50/fifty-years-at-wellington-circus-the-sixties/|title=50 Years at Wellington Circus: The Sixties|website=Nottingham Playhouse}}</ref> The play was notorious for its anti-[[naturalism (literature)|naturalistic]] approach, unusual in [[theatre]] at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/forgotten-authors-no29-peter-barnes-1654122.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402011901/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/forgotten-authors-no29-peter-barnes-1654122.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 April 2009|title=Forgotten authors No.29: Peter Barnes|date=29 March 2009|website=The Independent}}</ref> Critic [[Harold Hobson]] deemed it to be one of the best first plays of its generation.<ref name=guardian/> Following a successful three-month run in the [[West End theatre|West End]], Barnes adapted the play for the 1972 [[The Ruling Class (film)|film of the same name]], which featured a highly acclaimed performance by [[Peter O'Toole]].<ref name=nytimes>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/03/theater/peter-barnes-playwright-known-for-the-ruling-class-dies-at-73.html|title=Peter Barnes, Playwright Known For 'The Ruling Class,' Dies at 73|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon|newspaper=The New York Times |date=3 July 2004}}</ref>

===Later plays===
Following his initial success, Barnes wrote a series of plays offering apocalyptic visions of various periods in history:
* ''[[Leonardo's Last Supper]]'' (1969) portrayed [[Leonardo da Vinci]] as prematurely declared dead, with his subsequent "resurrection" in a filthy charnel-house.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/plays/leonardos-last-supper-iid-125730|title=Leonardo's Last Supper – Drama Online|website=www.dramaonlinelibrary.com}}</ref>
* ''The Bewitched'' (1974), which he produced with the [[Royal Shakespeare Company]], showed the Spanish state attempting to produce an heir for [[Charles II of Spain|Carlos II]], whom Barnes portrayed as being an impotent imbecile.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/playwrights/peter-barnes-iid-12381|title=Barnes, Peter – Drama Online|website=www.dramaonlinelibrary.com}}</ref>
* ''[[Laughter!]]'' (1978) was his most controversial work, a double-bill that jumped from the reign of [[Ivan IV of Russia|Ivan the Terrible]] to a satire based on the tedious bureaucracy required to sustain [[Auschwitz concentration camp]].<ref name=guardian/>
* ''[[Red Noses]]'' (1985) depicts a sprightly priest, originally played by [[Antony Sher]], who travelled around the [[Bubonic plague|plague]]-affected villages of 14th-century France with a band of fools, known as God's Zanies, offering holy assistance.<ref name=variety>{{Cite web|url=https://variety.com/2004/scene/people-news/peter-barnes-1117907348/|title=Peter Barnes|first1=Matt|last1=Wolf|date=5 July 2004}}</ref> It was for this play that Barnes won his [[Laurence Olivier Award|Olivier award]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/winners/olivier-winners-1985/|title=Olivier Winners 1985|website=Olivier Awards}}</ref>

===Later life===
In his later years Barnes turned his attention more in the direction of films, radio, and television.<ref name=variety/> His screenplay for [[Elizabeth von Arnim]]'s ''[[The Enchanted April]]'' earned him a nomination for the [[Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay|best adapted screenplay Oscar]] in 1992.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1993|title=The 65th Academy Awards &#124; 1993|website=Oscars.org &#124; Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=4 October 2014 }}</ref> He also wrote several hugely successful mini-series for U.S. television, including ''[[Arabian Nights (miniseries)|Arabian Nights]]'', ''[[Merlin (miniseries)|Merlin]]'' and ''[[Noah's Ark (miniseries)|Noah's Ark]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba12198d2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010124937/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba12198d2|url-status=dead|archive-date=10 October 2018|title=Peter Barnes|website=BFI}}</ref> For [[BBC Radio 3]] he wrote a series of monologues entitled ''Barnes's People'', for which he attracted a large number of well known actors: [[Laurence Olivier]], [[John Gielgud]], [[Alec Guinness]], [[Peggy Ashcroft]], [[Judi Dench]], and [[Ian McKellen]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/6423ecf725f84b5b8c7493a1163c2a89|title=Barnes' People|date=27 September 1981|issue=3020|pages=45|via=BBC Genome}}</ref> His television miniseries for ABC and NBC were the most popular of the day with record audiences.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/04/29/arts/tv-notes-merlin-sparks-ratings-magic.html|title=TV Notes; Merlin Sparks Ratings Magic|first=Bill|last=Carter|newspaper=The New York Times |date=29 April 1998}}</ref>

Barnes continued writing historical comedies throughout the 1990s. These include ''[[Sunsets and Glories]]'' (1990), ''[[Dreaming (play)|Dreaming]]'' (1999) which transferred to London's West End, and ''[[Jubilee (play)|Jubilee]]'' (2001).<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rQINrHtwNU0C&q=peter+Barnes+continued+writing+historical+comedies+throughout+the+1990s&pg=PA74|title=The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English|first=Dominic|last=Head|date=26 January 2006|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521831796}}</ref><ref name=guardian/> He was the Royal Shakespeare Company's most produced living playwright at the time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.casarotto.co.uk/clients/peter-barnes|title=Peter Barnes|first=Casarotto Ramsay &|last=Associates|website=Casarotto Ramsay & Associates}}</ref>

The last play that Barnes completed was ''[[Babies (play)|Babies]]'', which is based on his experiences as an elderly father.<ref name=telegraph/> His second wife gave birth to a daughter when he was 69, followed by triplets a year later.<ref name="Obituary: Peter Barnes">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/jul/05/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries|title=Obituary: Peter Barnes|newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 July 2004|via=theguardian.com |last1=Billington |first1=Michael }}</ref>

[[John Irvin]] directed his ''[[The Moon and the Stars]]'' with [[Alfred Molina]] about the film business in 1930s' Rome.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-moon-and-the-stars-v392458|title=The Moon and the Stars (2007) – John Irvin &#124; Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related|website=AllMovie}}</ref> A revival of his ''[[Noonday Demons]]'' was produced by renowned theatre designer John Napier.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jul/15/noonday-demons-review-comedy-peter-barnes|title=Noonday Demons review – rival hermits declare holy war in caustic comedy|first=Michael|last=Billington|newspaper=The Guardian |date=15 July 2015|via=www.theguardian.com}}</ref> Barnes television miniseries are shown yearly as holiday favourites.