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Russell Barr

RUSSELL BARR  

 Nationality:    Scottish
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    United Agents  represented bySt John Donald

Russell Barr has worked as an actor for over ten years. he has worked extensively in film and Theatre. He trained at the Royal Scottish academy of Music and Drama (1991 - 1994). His first play SISTeRS, SUCH DeVOTeD SISTeRS, was first performed at the Traverse in an Out of Joint production directed by Max Stafford Clark. It won the Carol Tambor/ Scotsman award for the best production at the edinburgh Festival 2004, and when on to do two runs in London at the Drill Hall, and two runs off Broadway. His recent plays include a musical about a deaf drag queen, DIVa DaNNY, which premiered at the Manchester Royal exchange in September 2008, VaNTaSTIC and LOBSTeR which was commissioned for Queer up North 2009. a double bill of VaNTaSTIC and LOBSTeR were performed at the Oval House Theatre in autumn 2009. He is a recipient of multiple awards from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation. His most recent play, a DISH OF Tea WITH DR JOHNSON, co-written with Ian Redmond and directed by Max Stafford Clark, enjoyed a UK tour in Winter Spring 2011. a Summer 2011 remount saw runs at the Traverse, edinburgh and the Arts Theatre, London.

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below is a list of Russell Barr's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Caravan         Danny Diva         Dish Of Tea With Dr Johnson         Lobster         Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters         Super Slash Naughty Xxxmas Story, The         Ugly Spirit, The         Vantastic

Caravan

Synopsis:
ever been to North Wales? ever thought it might be a super spot? Thinking august? Two weeks? Caravans are fashionable now. Maybe hire one? Invite the family? Invite your close friends? Pets also welcome. British holidays are so the thing to do. No carbon footprint. a short car journey even though there are literally no dual carriageways in North Wales. there you will be. In the bosom of your adoring family and friends. In a cosy caravan. Doesnt it sound marvellous ... Think again. Meet Pam, Peter, Scratchit, Doddie, a boy, and a stuffed Yorkshire terrier called Shaggy to find out. Welcome to Caravan, challenging what it means to go on holiday in confined spaces.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Queercore

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
play - v

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Danny Diva

Synopsis:
Danny Bartlett was a deaf; working-class lad from a mining town near Newcastle who reinvented himself as Diva Dan, and along with Bette Boume, Lavinia Co-op and others was part of Bloolips, that troupe of queenly theatrical outrageousness. When Diva Dan sang, it was entirely tuneless; but he sang from his soul. He died in the 1990s from AIDS, and at his funeral the entire congregation sang his favourite song, Secret Love, in Dan's unique style.

Notes:
Music Tayo Akinbode

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Fittings Multimedia Arts

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama - AIDS, full length

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Dish Of Tea With Dr Johnson

Dish Of Tea With Dr Johnson
Meet Samuel Johnson - poet, essayist, compiler of the first english dictionary. This evening of anecdotes and witty conversation brings to life one of the most colourful figures of the eighteenth century: irritable, generous, depressive yet hilarious. Meet characters from his life, from biographer James Boswell and painter Joshua Reynolds, to a society hostess who was Johnson's final, unrequited, love.

Notes:
adapted by Russell Barr, Ian Redford And Max Stafford-Clark

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Out of Joint

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London (2011) >>>    978-1849431064

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Lobster

Lobster
Tobias lives in a nuclear bunker with his grandmother. He has never been out of it. He has two pet lobsters but longs for a friend. Grandmother has found one - the Boy With No Name.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Natasha productions

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London (2010) >>>    978-1840029802

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act. - - Gay, one act

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters

Sisters, Such Devoted Sisters
at its heart, there's a sickening crime story from Glasgow's gay underworld. But it's just part of Russell Barr's funny, touching show about a young man blowing up pigeons, shoplifting, and making an unlikely identity for himself. Drag Queen Bernice Hindley -"Myra's niece" - pulls you into a secret city. Meet her fucked-up friends and family: Violent trannies, self-combusting grannies, Jack Russells driving cars. . . Bernice fixes you with her unnerving stare, and you think - nice lashes. and loads more besides. But Bernice has heard it all before. and much, much worse.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:

1st Published:
Oberon Books   978-1840025675

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
play - Gay, one act

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Super Slash Naughty Xxxmas Story, The

Synopsis:
camp as Christmas farce, a gay Glaswegian visits his aunt and uncle on a remote Scottish Island. Tells the tale of a catastrophic Christmas on a damp Scottish island with no electricity and twelve Jack Russell Terriers. 'This travesty of a Christmas pantomime is totally unsuitable for children, featuring, as it does, shaved genitalia, sexual abuse, blasphemy, racism and homophobia. If I hadn't written it myself, I'd call for it to be banned.'

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama - - Gay, full length

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Ugly Spirit, The

Ugly Spirit, The
Berlin. 1973. a soprano lies dead on a blanket. the human mind will not function when it is hot. Only when it is cool and dispassionate. If you are not careful you will no longer be human. If you are not careful you will become animals covered in sand. You are our descendants. You are very special. Some of you are to be precisely registered and preserved. You will become our most important historical monument. Bessie and Jessie have been stuck in a bombed ballroom. theyare also stuck together. there appears to be no escape. Bessieis happy to be stuck. Surely it is better than being alone? Jessie often went blue as a child. Jessie clutches the last unopened Christmas present. they are instructed by a voice, the Special Detachment, who only eats strawberries, and keeps the world in order. Bessie and Jessie have a model trainset. the train is driven bya live rodent. the train has been moving for too many years. the train is about to fall off its tracks.

Notes:
Written by Russell Barr with Additional material from David Hoyle. the Ugly Spirit was oroginally commissioned And first performed by Fittings Multimedia Arts.

1st Produced:
Square Chapel Arts Centre, Halifax    19 May 2012

Organisations:
an unlimited commission for the cultural Olympiad

1st Published:
Oberon Books (2012) >>>    978-1849432221

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
backstage play

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Vantastic

Vantastic
Doddie is a depressed gay man who shoplifts. Scratchitt has early menopause. Pam has an incontinent dead dog. Peter has erectile problems. they are all on holiday together when a mysterious young man called Stuck turns up

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Natasha productions

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London (2010) >>>    978-1840029802

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
One act. - - Gay, one act

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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