Screen Actor Research Articles

A Memorial Tribute: Peter Barnes: the Playwright who Laughed at Death

The death on 1 July 2004 of the playwright Peter Barnes robbed the British theatre of one of its most individual and richly imaginative yet shamefully neglected writers. Although his best known work for the theatre – which included The Ruling Classes, The Bewitched, Laughter, Red Noses, and Dreaming – won widespread admiration, and his later radio and television work brought him before a wider public, he remained a theatrical outsider, his plays transcending the conventions of critical labels and movements – the singe discernible influence that of Ben Jonson, whose eccentric genius he championed throughout his life. Here we include three personal tributes: the oration delivered at Barnes's funeral by the stage and screen actor Alan Rickman; recollections from the avant-garde director Charles Marowitz of his association with Barnes's early career at the Traverse and his own Open Space Theatre in the 'sixties; and the impressions of a personal friend, the lecturer and writer Elaine Turner. An analytical assessent of Peter Barnes's work will appear in a later issue.

The Higher Education of Paul Robeson

Editor's Note: A man of extraordinary talents, Paul Robeson was an all-American football player, class valedictorian, law school graduate, concert and recording artist, stage and screen actor, and fighter for civil rights. For speaking out on the plight of his fellow blacks, Robeson was vilified as a Soviet sympathizer, prohibited from traveling abroad by the State Department, and persecuted by the FBI. A tired and broken man, Robeson died in 1976 at the age of 77. Here, CUNY Professor Martin Duberman offers a candid look at Robeson's years at Rutgers University and at Columbia Law School.

The HIV/AIDS grants economy in New York City, 1983-1992.

The HIV/AIDS grants economy in New York City, 1983-1992.

Theatre's Illegitimate Child: The Screen Actor

Theatre's Illegitimate Child: The Screen Actor