Peter Barnes (playwright)

Early career

Barnes was educated at Marling School in Stroud, Gloucestershire and performed his national service with the Royal Air Force. After this he spent a short period working for London County Council.

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. During this period he worked as a film critic, story editor, and a screenwriter. He achieved critical and box-office success with his baroque comedy The Ruling Class (1968), which debuted at the Nottingham Playhouse. The play was notorious for its anti-naturalistic approach, unusual in theatre at the time. Critic Harold Hobson deemed it to be one of the best first plays of its generation. Following a successful three-month run in the West End, Barnes adapted the play for the 1972 film of the same name, which featured a highly acclaimed performance by Peter O'Toole.

Later plays

Following his initial success, Barnes wrote a series of plays offering apocalyptic visions of various periods in history:

Later life

In his later years Barnes turned his attention more in the direction of films, radio, and television. His screenplay for Elizabeth von Arnim's The Enchanted April earned him a nomination for the best adapted screenplay Oscar in 1992. He also wrote several hugely successful mini-series for U.S. television, including Arabian Nights, Merlin and Noah's Ark. 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. His television miniseries for ABC and NBC were the most popular of the day with record audiences.

Barnes continued writing historical comedies throughout the 1990s. These include Sunsets and Glories (1990), Dreaming (1999) which transferred to London's West End, and Jubilee (2001). He was the Royal Shakespeare Company's most produced living playwright at the time.

The last play that Barnes completed was Babies, which is based on his experiences as an elderly father. Barnes's film scripts continue to be produced after his death including Easy Virtue with Colin Firth, Kristen Scott Thomas and Jessica Biel.

John Irvin directed his Moon and the Stars with Alfred Molina about the film business in 1930's Rome. A notable revival of his Noonday Demons was produced by renowned theatre designer John Napier. Barnes television miniseries are shown yearly as holiday favourites.

Theatre plays

Original works for radio

Original screenplays

Original teleplays

Adaptations for stage, screen and radio

Selected filmography

Personal life

Barnes, who had two sons and two daughters, married twice – in 1958 to Charlotte Beck and in 1995 to Christie Horn. His second wife, Christie, gave birth to his first daughter Leela in 1996 when he was 65. Barnes, who received much American mainstream media attention for his movies and US television miniseries in later life, quickly became a tabloid obsession in 2002 when he became a father again at the age of 71. His wife gave birth this time to triplets Abigail, Nathaniel and Zachary. Christie wrote the parenting book, The Paranoid Parents Guide. She also works with entertainment agencies and casting directors in entertainment career development and career consulting.