An edited collection of essays exploring the work and legacy of the academic and theatre-maker Clive Barker. Together, the essays trace the development of his work from his early years as an actor with Joan Littlewood's company, Theatre Workshop, via his career as an academic and teacher, through the publication of his seminal book, Theatre Games (Methuen Drama).

The book looks beyond Barker's death in 2005 at the enduring influence of his work upon contemporary theatre training and theatre-making.

Each writer featured in the collection responds to a specific aspect of Barker's work, focusing primarily on his early and formative career experiences with Theatre Workshop and his hugely influential development of Theatre Games. The collection as a whole thereby seeks to situate Clive Barker's work and influence in an international and multi-disciplinary context, by examining not only his origins as an actor, director, teacher and academic, but also the broad influence he has had on generations of theatre-makers.

Nesta Jones recently retired as a Professor and Director of Research at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance. She is on the Editorial Board of Stanislavski Studies (Taylor & Francis) and a Contributing Editor for New Theatre Quarterly (Cambridge University Press) for both of which she has also written articles; and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Paul Fryer recently retired as Head of Research Degrees and Director of The Stanislavski Centre at Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance (UK). He was awarded a Professorship of the College in Summer 2015. He now holds Visiting Professor posts at Leeds and London South Bank Universities. Paul is editor-in-chief of the journal Stanislavski Studies, published by Routledge/Taylor and Francis, and co-convenor of the international research project The S Word, which explores the influence of Stanislavski on contemporary theatre.

Clive Barker was born in Middlesbrough in 1931. Having trained in stage management at the Bristol Old Vic School, he joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop in 1955. Among the plays he directed were the Royal Court production of Shelagh Delaney's Lion in Love, the British premiere of Slavomir Mrozek's The Police and Marlowe's Dr Faustus for the German National Theatre in Weimar. He directed in Germany, the US and in Colombia, where he was Associate Director of the Teatro Libre de Bogota. From 1966-1974 he was Lecturer in the Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University and after a short period as director of the Northcott Theatre in Exeter he was Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Warwick until his retirement in 1996. He had a major stroke in 2002 which limited his ability to continue working, but when he died of another stroke on 17 March 2005, it was in the foyer of York Theatre Royal after leading a workshop with The Shysters.