Barrington John Reckord (19 November 1926 – 20 December 2011),
known as Barry Reckord, was a
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
n playwright, one of the earliest Caribbean writers to make a contribution to theatre in Britain.
His brother was the actor and director
Lloyd Reckord, with whom he sometimes worked.
Early years and education
Barrington John Reckord was born in
Kingston,
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, where he grew up in
Vineyard Town with his three siblings: two brothers, Carol and Lloyd, and a sister Cynthia.
He attended
Kingston College and after matriculation went on to study theology at
St Peter's College in 1948. He left the island in 1950 after winning an
Issa Scholarship to
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
, where he read for a degree at
Emmanuel College, graduating in 1953.
Writing career
He began writing plays as a student and several of them were performed at
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
's
Royal Court Theatre
The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England ...
(he is claimed as the first Black Briton to have had a play on there), sometimes directed by his brother
Lloyd Reckord.
''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
Cecil Antonio "Tony" Richardson (5 June 1928 – 14 November 1991) was an English theatre and film director and producer whose career spanned five decades. In 1964, he won the Academy Award for Best Director for the film ''Tom Jones''.
Early ...
, with a cast that featured
Cleo Laine,
Pearl Prescod
Pearl Priscilla Prescod (28 May 1920 – 25 June 1966) was a Tobagonian actress and singer. She was one of the earliest Caribbean entertainers to appear on British television and was the first Black woman to appear with London's National Theatr ...
,
Nadia Cattouse
Nadia Evadne Cattouse (born 2 November 1924) is a Belizean-born British actress, singer and songwriter.
She is best known for her acting roles in many British television programmes including ''Play for Today, Crown Court, Dixon of Dock Green'' ...
,
Johnny Sekka
Johnny is an English language personal name. It is usually an affectionate diminutive of the masculine given name John, but from the 16th century it has sometimes been a given name in its own right for males and, less commonly, females.
Variant ...
and Lloyd Reckord,
and choreography by
Boscoe Holder
Boscoe Holder (16 July 1921 – 21 April 2007), born Arthur Aldwyn Holder in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago, was Trinidad and Tobago's leading contemporary painter, who also had a celebrated international career spanning six decades as a designer and ...
. The play dealt with the attempts by a cult leader to enforce his wishes on a female member of his congregation.
In 1961 the Royal Court also produced ''
You in Your Small Corner'', which transferred to the
New Arts Theatre and was subsequently adapted for ITV's ''
Play of the Week'' series in an episode that aired on 5 June 1962,
directed by
Claude Whatham
Claude Whatham (7 December 1927 in Manchester – 4 January 2008 in Anglesey) was an English film and TV director mainly known for his work on dramas.
Early life
In 1940, Whatham, a teenage evacuee art student, had been commissioned to paint f ...
. This broadcast was once thought to contain the
first interracial kiss on television
The date and program of the first interracial kiss on television is a much debated topic. In many parts of the world social stigma and legislation (such as anti-miscegenation laws) have hindered Interracial marriage, relations between people from d ...
between Lloyd Reckord, the playwright's brother, and
Elizabeth MacLennan
Elizabeth Margaret Ross MacLennan (16 March 1938 – 23 June 2015) was a Scottish actress, writer and radical popular theatre practitioner.
Early life
Elizabeth MacLennan was born in Glasgow, Scotland, daughter of Sir Hector MacLennan and Is ...
, although this is no longer the case.
Reckord's most successful play ''
Skyvers'', first produced in 1963 at the Royal Court (directed by
Ann Jellicoe
Patricia Ann Jellicoe (15 July 1927 – 31 August 2017) was an English playwright, theatre director and actress. Although her work covered many areas of theatre and film, she is best known for "pushing the envelope" of the stage play, devising ...
, with an all-white cast that included
David Hemmings),
is considered by ''
Guardian'' critic
Michael Billington to be "one of the key plays of the 1960s", prefiguring
Edward Bond's 1965 ''
Saved''.
''Skyvers'', which deals with the alienation of a group of working-class south London boys in the last few days at their
comprehensive school, was broadcast on
BBC Radio 3 in November 2012 as part of a series of plays curated by
Kwame Kwei-Armah
Kwame Kwei-Armah (born Ian Roberts; 24 March 1967 in Hillingdon, London) is a British actor, playwright, director, singer and broadcaster. He is best known for playing paramedic Finlay Newton in the BBC medical drama ''Casualty'' from 1999 unti ...
, after lobbying to ensure better recognition for black dramatists.
Reckord wrote other television dramas, including for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...