# Barry Reckord

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{{Short description|Jamaican playwright and screenwriter (1926–2011)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox person
| name          = Barry Reckord
| image         = Cropped_Picture_of_Barry_Reckord.jpg
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = Barrington John Reckord
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1926|11|19|df=y}}
| birth_place   = [Kingston, Jamaica](/source/Kingston%2C_Jamaica)
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|2011|12|20|1926|11|19|df=y}} 
| death_place   = [Boscobel](/source/Boscobel%2C_Jamaica), [Saint Mary](/source/Saint_Mary_Parish%2C_Jamaica), Jamaica
| other_names   = 
| education     = [Emmanuel College, Cambridge](/source/Emmanuel_College%2C_Cambridge) 
| occupation    = Playwright
| years_active  = 
| known_for     = 
| relatives     = [Lloyd Reckord](/source/Lloyd_Reckord) (brother)
| notable_works = ''Flesh to a Tiger''<br> ''Skyvers''
}}
'''Barrington John Reckord''' (19 November 1926 – 20 December 2011),<ref name="Guardian obit">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/jan/16/barry-reckord|title=Barry Reckord obituary|author=Margaret Busby|author-link=Margaret Busby|work=[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)|access-date=21 January 2012|location=London|date=16 January 2012}}</ref> known as '''Barry Reckord''', was a [Jamaica](/source/Jamaica)n playwright, one of the earliest Caribbean writers to make a contribution to theatre in Britain.<ref name="Gleaner">{{cite news|url=http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111222/ent/ent1.html|title=Reckord completes the final act|date=22 December 2011|newspaper=[The Gleaner](/source/Gleaner_Company)|access-date=16 January 2012}}</ref><ref name="Observer">{{cite news|url=http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/Late-playwright-Barry-Reckord-s-body-donated-to-science_10465295|title=Late playwright Barry Reckord's body donated to science |author=Richard Johnson|date=29 December 2011|newspaper=[The Jamaica Observer](/source/The_Jamaica_Observer)|access-date=16 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=Ogidi>{{cite web|url=http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/536322/|title=Reckord, Barry|author=Ann Ogidi|work=[Screenonline](/source/Screenonline)|publisher=[British Film Institute](/source/British_Film_Institute)|access-date=16 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8757916/The-Creative-Case-for-Diversity.html|title=The Creative Case for Diversity|author=Hassan Mahamdallie|newspaper=[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)|access-date=9 February 2012|location=London|date=13 September 2011}}</ref> His brother was the actor and director [Lloyd Reckord](/source/Lloyd_Reckord), with whom he sometimes worked.<ref name="Guardian obit" />

==Early years and education==
Barrington John Reckord was born in [Kingston](/source/Kingston%2C_Jamaica), [Jamaica](/source/Jamaica), where he grew up in [Vineyard Town](/source/Vineyard_Town) with his three siblings: two brothers, Carol and Lloyd, and a sister Cynthia.<ref name="Observer"/> Reckord attended [Kingston College](/source/Kingston_College%2C_Jamaica) and after matriculation went on to study theology at [St Peter's College](/source/St_Peter's_College%2C_Jamaica) in 1948. He left the island in 1950 after winning an [Issa Scholarship](/source/Issa_Scholarship) to [Cambridge University](/source/Cambridge_University), where he read for a degree at [Emmanuel College](/source/Emmanuel_College%2C_Cambridge), graduating in 1953.<ref name="Guardian obit" /><ref name="Gleaner"/>

==Writing career==
He began writing plays as a student and several of them were performed at [London](/source/London)'s [Royal Court Theatre](/source/Royal_Court_Theatre) (he is claimed as the first Black Briton to have had a play on there),<ref>{{cite news|author=Vanessa Thorpe|url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/oct/25/black-actors-lenny-henry-theatre |title=After a century of black British theatre, actors still struggle to take centre stage|newspaper=[The Observer](/source/The_Observer)|date=25 October 2015}}</ref> sometimes directed by his brother [Lloyd Reckord](/source/Lloyd_Reckord).<ref name="Gleaner"/><ref>{{cite book|author1=Martin Banham |author2=Errol Hill |author2-link=Errol Hill |title=The Cambridge Guide to African and Caribbean Theatre|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1994|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto00mart/page/213 213]|isbn=978-0-521-41139-4|url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeguideto00mart|url-access=registration }}</ref><ref>Michael Reckord, [http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/entertainment/20150711/theatre-veteran-lloyd-reckord-passes "Theatre Veteran Lloyd Reckord Passes"], ''The Gleaner'', 11 July 2015.</ref>

''Della'', Barry Reckord's first play, which (as ''Adella'') had been staged by his brother in a small fringe production in 1954, was produced under the title ''Flesh to a Tiger'' at the Royal Court in 1958, directed by [Tony Richardson](/source/Tony_Richardson), with a cast that featured [Cleo Laine](/source/Cleo_Laine), [Pearl Prescod](/source/Pearl_Prescod), [Nadia Cattouse](/source/Nadia_Cattouse), [Johnny Sekka](/source/Johnny_Sekka) and Lloyd Reckord,<ref name="Guardian obit" /> and choreography by [Boscoe Holder](/source/Boscoe_Holder).<ref>[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/flesh-tiger "Flesh to a Tiger"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.</ref> The play dealt with the attempts by a cult leader to enforce his wishes on a female member of his congregation.<ref>Arthur Holmberg, Carlos Solorzano, ''World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre: Volume 2: The Americas'', Routledge, 2014, p. 189.</ref>

In 1961 the Royal Court also produced ''[You in Your Small Corner](/source/You_in_Your_Small_Corner)'', which transferred to the [New Arts Theatre](/source/New_Arts_Theatre) and was subsequently adapted for ITV's ''[Play of the Week](/source/ITV_Play_of_the_Week)'' series in an episode that aired on 5 June 1962,<ref name="Guardian obit" /> directed by [Claude Whatham](/source/Claude_Whatham).<ref>[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926620/ "You in Your Small Corner"] (ITV ''Play of the Week'', Season 7 | Episode 21), IMDb.</ref><ref>Eleni Liarou, [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/537722/ "You in Your Small Corner (1962)"], BFI Screen Online.</ref> This broadcast was once thought to contain the [first interracial kiss on television](/source/first_interracial_kiss_on_television) between Lloyd Reckord, the playwright's brother, and [Elizabeth MacLennan](/source/Elizabeth_MacLennan),<ref>{{cite news|author=Mark Brown|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2015/nov/20/tv-archive-discovers-couple-who-beat-kirk-and-uhara-to-first-interracial-kiss|title=TV archive discovers couple who beat Kirk and Uhura to first interracial kiss|work=The Guardian|date=20 November 2015|accessdate=20 November 2015}}</ref><ref>Stuart Black, [https://londonist.com/2015/11/world-s-first-inter-racial-tv-kiss-was-in-brixton "World’s First Interracial TV Kiss Was In Brixton"], ''Londonist'', 20 November 2015.</ref> although this is no longer the case.<ref>Amanda Bidnall, ''The West Indian Generation: Remaking British Culture in London, 1945-1965'', Oxford University Press, 2017, p. 226.</ref>

Reckord's most successful play ''[Skyvers](/source/Skyvers)'', first produced in 1963 at the Royal Court (directed by [Ann Jellicoe](/source/Ann_Jellicoe), with an all-white cast that included [David Hemmings](/source/David_Hemmings)),<ref name="Guardian obit" /> is considered by ''[Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'' theatre critic [Michael Billington](/source/Michael_Billington_(critic)) to be "one of the key plays of the 1960s", prefiguring [Edward Bond](/source/Edward_Bond)'s 1965 ''[Saved](/source/Saved_(play))''.<ref name=Billington /> ''Skyvers'', which deals with the alienation of a group of working-class south London boys in the last few days at their [comprehensive school](/source/comprehensive_school), was broadcast on [BBC Radio 3](/source/BBC_Radio_3) in November 2012 as part of a series of plays curated by [Kwame Kwei-Armah](/source/Kwame_Kwei-Armah),<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01806nx "Skyvers by Barry Reckord"], ''Drama on 3'', BBC Radio 3, 18 November 2012.</ref> after lobbying to ensure better recognition for black dramatists.<ref>Elizabeth Pears, [http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/fond-farewell-trio-who-helped-shape-black-britain "Fond Farewell To Trio Who Helped Shape Black Britain"], ''[The Voice](/source/The_Voice_(British_newspaper))'', 24 January 2012.</ref>

Reckord wrote other television dramas, including for the [BBC](/source/BBC) ''In the Beautiful Caribbean'' (1972) and ''Club Havana'' (1975),<ref name=Ogidi/> as well as a book about [Cuba](/source/Cuba) entitled ''Does Fidel Eat More Than Your Father'' (Praeger, 1971).<ref name="Gleaner"/>

In 1973 he received a [John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation](/source/John_Simon_Guggenheim_Memorial_Foundation) Fellowship to Assist Research and Artistic Creation.<ref>[http://historicalgeographies.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/biography-barry-reckord.html "Biography - Barry Reckord"]. Extract from Marjorie H. Morgan, ''Caribbean Britain: The Cultural and Biographical Directory'', via Historical Geographies, 7 February 2012.</ref> Also in 1973, Reckord was awarded the Silver [Musgrave Medal](/source/Musgrave_Medal) by the [Institute of Jamaica](/source/Institute_of_Jamaica).<ref name="Gleaner"/><ref name="Observer"/>

==Final years==
Reckord spent most of his adult life in Britain, for more than four decades with his companion [Diana Athill](/source/Diana_Athill), who in her memoirs has written candidly about their unconventional relationship, both as lovers and friends.<ref>Diana Athill, [https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2007/dec/22/weekend7.weekend4 "A final farewell to sex"], ''The Guardian'', 22 December 2007.</ref><ref>{{cite news|author-link=Sarah Lyall|author=Sarah Lyall|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/11/books/11athill.html |title=In Life's Latest Chapter, Feeling Free Again|newspaper=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)|date=10 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author-link=Mick Brown (journalist)|author=Mick Brown|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/8781558/Diana-Athill-on-letters-lovers-andletting-go.html |title=Diana Athill on letters, lovers & letting go|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=23 September 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Allan Fallow|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/alive-alive-oh-at-98-diane-athill-is-still-far-from-the-end-of-her-story/2016/02/25/feacdb56-b31e-11e5-a76a-0b5145e8679a_story.html|title='Alive, Alive Oh!': At 98, Diana Athill is still far from the end of her story|newspaper=[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)|date=26 February 2016}}</ref> When in the 1970s he decided to produce his new play ''White Witch'' in Jamaica, the central role was won by a young woman named Sally Cary, a farmer's daughter from Somerset, who began an intimate involvement with the playwright that continued on their return to London, leading Athill to conclude: "since she was spending almost every night in Barry's bed, keeping her bedsitter was a waste of money, so I suggested that she move in with us.... When Sally joined us what I felt was that I now had a lovely new friend in the house, as well as a darling old one, and the next two years or so were some of the happiest I can remember."<ref>Diana Athill, [https://books.google.com/books?id=D1YZWY8TvDkC&dq=%22white+witch%22+barry+reckord&pg=PT611 ''Life Class: The Selected Memoirs of Diana Athill''], Granta Books, 2009, pp. 604–606.</ref><ref>Diana Athill, [https://www.webofstories.com/play/diana.athill/43 "Living with Barry and Sally"], ''Web of Stories''.</ref>

In the last few years of his life Reckord suffered from ill health, eventually moving back to Jamaica to live with family.<ref>Charles-Adam Foster-Simard, [http://www.themillions.com/2016/05/instead-of-a-review-on-reading-diana-athill.html "Instead of a Review: On Reading Diana Athill"], ''[The Millions](/source/The_Millions)'', 25 May 2016.</ref> He died on the island in [Boscobel](/source/Boscobel%2C_Jamaica), [Saint Mary Parish](/source/Saint_Mary_Parish%2C_Jamaica), in December 2011, aged 85.<ref name="Gleaner"/> In accordance with his wishes, his body was donated to the [University of the West Indies](/source/University_of_the_West_Indies) for medical research.<ref name="Observer" />

== Legacy ==
On 23 September 2012, a tribute to Reckord's life and work, called "Reckord Celebrations"<ref>[http://www.talawa.com/news.php?nid=274 "Who was Barry Reckord?"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402104133/http://www.talawa.com/news.php?nid=274 |date=2 April 2015 }}, Talawa Theatre Company, 18 September 2012.</ref> (directed by [Michael Buffong](/source/Michael_Buffong) for [Talawa Theatre Company](/source/Talawa_Theatre_Company) and The London Hub),<ref name=Billington /> was held at the [Bush Theatre](/source/Bush_Theatre), [Shepherd's Bush, London](/source/Shepherd's_Bush%2C_London), with contributors including [Max Stafford-Clark](/source/Max_Stafford-Clark), [Kwame Kwei-Armah](/source/Kwame_Kwei-Armah), [Don Warrington](/source/Don_Warrington) and Diana Athill.

At the same time The London Hub launched the Barry Reckord Bursary, open to black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) artists, and designed to encourage new playwrights.<ref>[http://www.afridiziak.com/theatrenews/news/oct2012/london-hub-seeks-emerging-artists-and-playwrights.html "London Hub seeks emerging artists and playwrights for the Barry Reckord Bursary & Pitch it"], ''Afridiziak Theatre News'', 2 October 2012.</ref> As [Michael Billington](/source/Michael_Billington_(critic)) commented in ''[The Guardian](/source/The_Guardian)'': "It's good to see Reckord at last being given his due. But one way to celebrate a playwright is to encourage his successors."<ref name=Billington>Michael Billington, [https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2012/sep/18/best-way-to-honour-playwrights-future "Why the best way to honour past playwrights is to invest in the future"], ''The Guardian'', 18 September 2012.</ref> The first recipient of the Barry Reckord Bursary was announced as [Ravi Thornton](/source/Ravi_Thornton) in January 2013.<ref>[http://www.afridiziak.com/theatrenews/news/jan2013/ravi-thornton-thebarry-reckord-bursary.html "Ravi Thornton is the first recipient of The Barry Reckord Bursary"], Afridiziak Theatre News, 19 January 2013.</ref>

In April 2017, theatre company Thee Black Swan in association with the [Chelsea Theatre](/source/Chelsea_Theatre) in London staged a new production of Reckord's play ''White Witch'',<ref>[http://ebonyonline.net/2017/04/04/white-witch-of-rose-hall/ "White Witch of Rose Hall"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418162526/http://ebonyonline.net/2017/04/04/white-witch-of-rose-hall/ |date=18 April 2017 }}, Ebonyonline.net, 4 April 2017.</ref><ref>Michael Davis, [https://breaking-the-fourth-wall.com/2017/04/10/white-witch-chelsea-theatre-review/ "White Witch, Chelsea Theatre – Review"], Breaking The Fourth Wall, 10 April 2017.</ref><ref>[http://www.helenadowling.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/The-White-Witch-Poster-TO-PRESS.pdf "White Witch"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418165610/http://www.helenadowling.com/site/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/The-White-Witch-Poster-TO-PRESS.pdf |date=18 April 2017 }} at HelenaDowling.com.</ref> presented for the first time in the UK.<ref>[http://www.theeblackswan.co.uk/ "Thee Black Swan in association Chelsea Theatre presents...".]</ref> Set in 18th-century Jamaica at [Rose Hall mansion](/source/Rose_Hall%2C_Montego_Bay), and based on [a true story](/source/White_Witch_of_Rose_Hall), the play tells of a young white woman who falls in love with a black man at a time when their relationship is taboo, and of the fallout – "a tale of mysticism, love, cruelty and revenge cast against the unforgiving backdrop of the transatlantic slave trade."<ref>[http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/45181482-white-witch-at-chelsea-theatre#q1qjk5GpFuFuTjGg.97 "White Witch at Chelsea Theatre"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418162945/http://www.visitlondon.com/things-to-do/event/45181482-white-witch-at-chelsea-theatre#q1qjk5GpFuFuTjGg.97 |date=18 April 2017 }}, VisitLondon.com.</ref> Earning five-star reviews,<ref>[https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/white-witch#tab_panel_4 "White Witch"], ''Time Out''.</ref> ''White Witch'' in this production by Joseph Charles was described by ''The London Journalist'' as "an intensely delicious and powerful play.... truly theatre at its best: cruelly assaulting the senses of the audience, stimulating unconscious fears, desires and prejudices, and allowing unrepressed joy to burst forth... A supreme performance from a small company shouting loudly from the shadows."<ref>[https://www.thelondonjournalist.com/magazine/2017/4/9/the-white-witch-chelsea-theatre "'The White Witch', Chelsea Theatre"], ''The London Journalist'', 9 April 2017.</ref>

==Selected plays==
*1953: ''Della'' ([Ward Theatre](/source/Ward_Theatre), Kingston, Jamaica)
*1954: ''Adella'' (London)
*1958: ''[Flesh to a Tiger](/source/Flesh_to_a_Tiger)'' ([Royal Court Theatre](/source/Royal_Court_Theatre), London)
*1960: ''[You in Your Small Corner](/source/You_in_Your_Small_Corner)'' (Royal Court); adapted for Granada Television's ''[Play of the Week](/source/ITV_Play_of_the_Week)'' strand, 1962
*1963, 1971: ''[Skyvers](/source/Skyvers)'' (Royal Court)
*1969: ''Don't Gas the Blacks'' (Royal Court; directed by [Lloyd Reckord](/source/Lloyd_Reckord))<ref>[http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/productions/dont-gas-blacks "Don't Gas the Blacks"], Black Plays Archive, National Theatre.</ref>
*1970: ''A Liberated Woman'' (Royal Court)
*1973: ''Give the Gaffers Time To Love You'' (Royal Court, Theatre Upstairs)
*1974: ''X'' (Royal Court, Theatre Upstairs)
*1975: ''White Witch of Rose Hall'' (Creative Arts Centre, [University of the West Indies](/source/University_of_the_West_Indies), Mona Campus, Jamaica, 4 October)<ref>[http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/reckord-barry.html Barry Reckord (1926-2011)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201024126/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/reckord-barry.html |date=1 February 2012 }}, doollee.com.</ref>
*1984: ''Streetwise''
<!--*1985: ''White Witch'' (London)-->
*1988: ''Sugar D'' (Barn Theatre, Kingston, Jamaica)

== Bibliography ==

*[Yvonne Brewster](/source/Yvonne_Brewster), ed., [https://www.oberonbooks.com/barry-reckord.html ''For the Reckord''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201235705/https://www.oberonbooks.com/barry-reckord.html |date=1 February 2017 }} (a collection of three plays by Barry Reckord: ''Flesh to a Tiger''; ''Skyvers''; ''The White Witch''). London: Oberon Books, 2010. {{ISBN|978-1-84943-053-1}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb name|2195096}}
<!--* [https://archive.today/20130130223412/http://oberonbooks.com/blog/reckord/ Barry Reckord (1926-2011) at Oberon Books]. Retrieved 21 January 2012.-->
* [http://www.blackplaysarchive.org.uk/explore/playwrights/reckord-barry Barry Reckord] at Black Plays Archive, [National Theatre](/source/Royal_National_Theatre)
* [http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/reckord-barry.html Barry Reckord (1926-2011)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120201024126/http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsR/reckord-barry.html |date=1 February 2012 }}, doollee.com
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b019h3pp Lady Runcie, Wylie Vale, Israel Baker, '''Barry Reckord''' and Reginald Hill], ''[Last Word](/source/Last_Word)'', [BBC Radio 4](/source/BBC_Radio_4), broadcast 22 January 2012
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150402093555/http://creolitaculture.com/tag/barry-reckord/ "Barry Reckord"], Creolita, 10 December 2014.

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reckord, Barry}}
Category:1926 births
Category:2011 deaths
Category:Jamaican dramatists and playwrights
Category:Jamaican male writers
Category:Jamaican screenwriters
Category:Recipients of the Musgrave Medal
Category:Alumni of Emmanuel College, Cambridge
Category:Black British writers
Category:Male screenwriters
Category:British male dramatists and playwrights
Category:20th-century British dramatists and playwrights
Category:Writers from Kingston, Jamaica
Category:Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:20th-century Jamaican writers
Category:20th-century British male writers
Category:People educated at Kingston College (Jamaica)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Barry Reckord](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Reckord) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barry_Reckord?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.