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Harley Granville Barker Author, Translator & Editor

Harley Granville Barker (1877-1946) was the most brilliant British director of the first quarter of the twentieth century. His best known plays, including Waste (banned by the Lord Chamberlain), were written as contributions to his Company's repertoire of provocative modern drama for a subsidised national theatre, a cause he championed in his book A National Theatre: Scheme and Estimates. Waste was first presented by Stage Society, 1907, revised and produced at the Westminster Theatre, 1936. Other plays include The Madras House, first produced at Duke of York's Theatre, 1910, revised 1925 for production at Ambassadors' Theatre; The Secret Life, produced at the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, 1989, and His Majesty, first produced at the Edinburgh International Festival at St Bride's Centre by Orange Tree Theatre Company in 1992.