Alex Barr, who wrote the book and lyrics for Swarm Fever, was born in Manchester and has worked as an architect, journalist, and lecturer. He now lives on a smallholding in Pembrokeshire, Wales, dividing his time between writing and land activities.
He has collaborated with several theatre companies, including (1988-9) Loose Exchange, London, who performed his full-length play Goats at the Tabard Theatre in Chiswick, A Carrion Bird’s Day Off (written impromptu) on ‘Loose Ends’ Radio 4, and Green on LBC Radio. He was one of six writers involved in Improbabilities, a menu of short plays performed by Loose Exchange at Soho Poly Theatre.
He has also collaborated with Bagatelle Theatre Company, Manchester; Music Theatre Manchester; and Theatre Grotesque, London, a company performing with Sicilian puppets. His radio play Futures was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. He is a founder member and current secretary of Bee Line Community Theatre Company, and played Hornby and Tyndale/Joshua in their recent productions A Kind of Alaska and After Jericho.
His directing credits include The Winter’s Tale at Glenilla Drama Group, Hampstead; A Dream Play by Strindberg at Portsmouth Polytechnic; Up The Wall at Wilmslow Guild Theatre; and the pilot performance of Swarm Fever at Theatr Mwldan, Cardigan.
He also writes poetry and short stories. He won third prizes in both the National and Peterloo Poetry Competitions 2000. His poems have appeared in leading poetry magazines in the UK, USA, Ireland, and Canada. His poetry collections are Henry’s Bridge (Starborn Books 2006) and Letting In The Carnival is published by Peterloo Poets. He collaborated with Peter Oram on Orchards (Starborn Books 2011), a translation of Rilke’s French poem sequence Vergers.
His short stories have been broadcast on Radio 4 and published in literary magazines, and have twice won prizes in the Bridport Competition. He was joint runner-up in this year’s Willesden Herald short story competition.
Contact Alex:
Alex Barr, Fronrhydd, Letterston, Haverfordwest SA62 5TL, UK
Phone: 00441348 840309
E-mail: alexandermcclure@aol.com