There are few examples of Howard Barker’s directorial work online or, for that matter, in print material: in the case of such a visually oriented, painterly dramatist and director, this is unfortunate. But slowly, slowly things work their way onto YouTube, even the plays of Howard Barker, and over the next few days I’ll be posting examples of his work with his Wrestling School company.

Today, the clip is from Barker’s 1994 production of Hated Nightfall, which travelled to Denmark the following year; it is from this touring production that the excerpt is taken. The Wrestling School’s Web page for the production describes it:

Seventy years after the murder in 1918 of the Russian Imperial Family at the hands of the Bolsheviks, their remains were offcially discovered in the woods near Ekaterinburg. Alongside them lay two additional unidentified human bodies …

Taking this as a starting point, Hated Nightfall is Howard Barker’s bold speculation on one of history’s greatest secrets; an imaginative recreation of the last hours of the Romanoffs, a doomed family caught in the chaos of civil war. Trapped in the hands of its enemies, a Royal Family, argues and barters for its life, but with a man who appears to be both saint and sadist. Dancer, the former tutor of the Royal children, is now an agent of the revolution invited by Lenin himself to oversee the execution, but compelled by an elusive mission of his own. Hated Nightfall contains classic Barker themes; a lyrical, passionate study of innocence, sexuality and sophistication in the midst of turmoil.

Further clips from other recent Barker productions will be posted next week.