Barry in Herculaneum

CV/Resumé

Barry is an Oscar and BAFTA nominated director usually, but not exclusively, working with animation. He has animated on and directed many series for television such as The Wind in the Willows, Rupert Bear, and most recently, Bob the Builder. He has worked in significant roles on such feature films as Mars Attacks and King Kong, and directed over 60 commercials and titles sequences, including an upcoming campaign for Marketing Manchester.

His own, very theatrical, and often controversial, films have won more than sixty awards around the world, and many festivals have held retrospectives. These films are Next, (the complete works of Shakespeare in five minutes); Screen Play (the Willow Pattern story told through Kabuki), a version of Verdi’s Rigoletto, Achilles (a very adult retelling of the Iliad), Gilbert and Sullivan, (using their words and music to retell of their stormy relationship) and Hamilton Mattress (a film about an aardvark’s attempt to survive in the corrupt world of showbiz!). These films have been released on a compilation DVD called Barry Purves – his intimate lives. The films are known for their innovation, passions, elegance, lush visuals and fresh interpretations of familiar subjects.

Barry’s first book, ‘Stop Motion – passion process performance’ was released last year, by Focal Press, and is doing very well. Using animation as a catalyst, it looks at the creative process of many media. A second book, Animation Basics – Stop motion will be released in early 2010 by AVA Publishing, and will be aimed at students and first time animators.

Away from film Barry works in theatre when he can, this being another true passion. In the last few years he has directed and designed ‘The Importance of Being Earnest’, ‘The Turn of the Screw’, Jekyll and Hyde’, several Ayckbourns, ‘la cage Aux Folles’, ‘The Ritz’, ‘Habeas Corpus’, Ronald Harwood’s ‘Quartet’, the farce ‘ Don’t Dress for Dinner’ as well as designing a huge panto, Aladdin, for Peterborough. Recently he designed ‘A Man for all seasons’ a new musical by Mal Pope, ‘Cappuccino Girls’, and ‘Murder Mystery Musical’ for the Edinburgh Festival this year, which received several 5 star reviews.

Barry teaches and gives master classes at studios and colleges all over the world, including running regular courses at the National Film and Television School and the National Film school of Italy (animation department) and is often on festival juries, judging or curating screenings. This year Barry has given workshops all round the UK as well as in Italy, France, Morocco, and Argentina.

Barry has also taught ‘writing for Performance’ at Manchester University, where he was originally a drama student. His own play, written with Emil Wolk, ‘The Eight Wonder’ may hopefully get produced. This looks at the making of the original King Kong through the eyes of Ginger Rogers and Fay Wray. A second play treatment, Handel and Lewis, has just been written for Liverpool Scenic Workshops – this involves a young opera loving boy and a live 25 foot robot. Several other feature film treatments and play ideas are being written.

Barry’s films are discussed at length in many books, including those written by Ray Harryhausen, Clare Kitson and Paul Wells, as well as being studied on most animation courses.

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1992 — 1998

1989

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1973 — 1976