Granville-Barker, Harley

Harley Granville Barker was born in Kensington, London, in 1877. His career included prominent success in five branches of theatrical life: as an actor, director, producer-manager, critic and playwright. In his twenties, he became established as a leader of the movement to reform British theatre, to make it less about spectacle and escapism and transform it into the cradle of a New Drama that explored social issues and featured naturalistic staging and realistic psychology. He can be viewed as one of the artists who invented the idea of the modern theatre director. He died in 1946.