Biography
Barry was born in Deptford, South East London in 1956 and grew up in a normal, loving, working class family. In 1974 he became a full-time acting student at the The Arts Educational Schools . He graduated in the summer of 1976 receiving a Diploma with Merit. By then he had had his first taste of the professional theatre when he played Second Policeman in John Osborne’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. In 1977 Barry joined Clown Cavalcade, a children's theatre company where he learned everything there is to know about the art of clowning! In 1978 he landed his first film and played the part of the Groom in John Guillerman’s feature film Death on the Nile which starred Peter Ustinov. His love of music - and following a family tradition - he studied singing with Liz Adams formely of Covent Garden and thanks to her embarked on a career in Musicals. He was first given a chance to shine and whilst working for a season at Worthing Rep. he played The Bangleman in Kismet. Earlier that season he had played the part of Domingo in Royal Hunt of the Sun by Peter Shaffer.
By 1982 he was playing lead parts and travelled to Edinburgh to play Wicked Uncle Ernie in Tommy by the Who at the Royal Lyceum. He returned later in the season to play Mary Sunshine in the hit musical Chicago by Kander and Ebb. During the next four years he played in one musical after the other , appearing all over the U.K. in National Tours of Godspell as Herb, Jesus Christ Superstar as King Herod and in The Rocky Horror Show as Eddie and Dr. Scott. Further to his successes on the musical stage Barry also managed to play roles as diverse as Aston in The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, at the Key Theatre, Peterborough and Cinderella’s Ugly Sister, Doreen, in Pantomime at The Pomegranate, Chesterfield .
In 1985 he was summoned to audition for Vivienne McKee, who needed someone with experience to play Ugly Sister in her growingly popular Crazy Christmas Cabaret. He passed the audition with flying colours and embarked on the journey across the North Sea which was to change his life. Viv and her team were to play a version of the Cinderella story set in Texas and involving a plot based on the popular series Dynasty, Viv, of course, playing the Joan Collins' character. The show was called Dustbusters.
The show was a huge success. Barry returned to play the Ugly Sister again in the spring of 1986, and by July of that year he had moved permanently to Copenhagen . In 1987 he was involved in founding the private theatre school Skandinavisk Teaterskole. Since 1986 Barry has appeared in four Crazy Christmas Cabarets and as a regular 'London Toastie' has worked solidly every year with Vivienne McKee and London Toast Theatre. He is a valued member of the team when it comes to Murder Mystery Evenings, appearing as a whole host of weird and wonderful characters. Furthermore he has toured schools across Denmark together with Viv and David Bateson in their 3 man show “Shakin´Up Shakespeare” which is still very much in demand after 10 years.
As a private drama teacher he has helped guide the careers of actors such as Lars Mikkelsen, Nicolai Coster-Waldau and Jan Meyer. He has also counted in the ranks of his students actors such as Nina Christrup, Janus Bakrawi, Jukka Hiltunen, Signe Egeholm Olsen, Kasper Leisner, Heinrich Christiansen, Lai Yde and Annette Støvlebæk. As a full-time drama teacher he has written seven plays all produced as end-of-term productions on subjects as diverse as Jack the Ripper, Kalevala ( Finnish folkstories) and 1001 Nights or Tales from the Führerbunker. His end of term productions have always been well received. On the professional Danish stage Barry has written and directed Mama May Have a pantomime based on the life of Queen Victoria, The Secret Lives of Gilbert and Sullivan and ‘Swonderful based on the lives of George and Ira Gershwin. Barry of course took leading roles in all three productions. Furthermore in 1992 Barry played the role of Mendy in Terrance MacNally´s The Lisbon Traviata which he co-directed with Michael Simpson.
They were invited to revive the play in 1996 when Copenhagen played host to the annual International Gay Pride Festival. In 1993 he played Lennox and the Porter in Shakespeare’s MacBeth for London Toast at Kridthuset again repeating the play in Vivienne McKee’s radically streamlined version Mac and Beth, in which Vivienne played Lady MacBeth with David Bateson in the title role and Barry playing Banquo, the Doctor and repeating his success as Porter.
Nowadays, Barry is concentrating his efforts on the directing side of his career. He has notable success in this area. Working for The Loyal Shakespeare Company Barry directed the award winning Romeo & Julie in 1997 and their popular Hamlet in 1999. For London Toast Theatre, he directed Intimate Exchanges Part 2 by Alan Ayckbourne in 1997 and , in 2004, he co-directed with Vivienne on her production of The Importance of Being Earnest which was subsequently a big hit at The Edinburgh Festival. In the winter of 2007 he had the honour to work with Viv again on The Crazy Christmas Caberet Fogg's Off, as her Assistant Director. In 2006 he directed Flammens Muse/ Muse of Fire for the Golden Days Festival in Copenhagen. The play was taken up by Kaleidoskop and played at K2 in January of 2008. It was well received by both public and critics alike and won the Reumert Award for the best small production of 2008. It was staged again at Husets Teater in April 2008.
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