author
Harley Granville-Barker
1877–1946
A restless force in modern British theatre, he moved easily between acting, directing, playwriting, and criticism. His bold productions and sharp writing helped reshape how Shakespeare and new drama were staged in the early twentieth century.
3 Audiobooks
The Harlequinade: An Excursion
by Dion Clayton Calthrop, Harley Granville-Barker
Waste: A Tragedy, In Four Acts
by Harley Granville-Barker
Three Plays by Granville-Barker The Marrying of Ann Leete; The Voysey Inheritance; Waste
by Harley Granville-Barker
About the author
Born in London on 25 November 1877, Harley Granville-Barker left school young and went straight into the theatre, beginning as an actor before quickly making a name for himself as a playwright and director. He appeared in plays by George Bernard Shaw and became one of the central figures in the British stage world of the Edwardian and interwar years.
He is especially remembered for combining practical stage experience with big ideas about how theatre should work. As a dramatist, he wrote plays such as The Voysey Inheritance, Waste, and The Madras House, works known for tackling difficult social and political questions. As a producer and critic, he pushed for more intelligent, less conventional theatre and had a lasting influence on Shakespeare in performance.
Later, his series Prefaces to Shakespeare became one of his most admired achievements, bringing a director’s eye to the plays and shaping twentieth-century Shakespeare criticism. He died in Paris on 31 August 1946, but his reputation has endured through both his own plays and his wider impact on modern stagecraft.