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Peter Barnes (playwright)
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===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>
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