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{{short description|Indian theatre director}}
{{short description|English-Indian theatre director (born 1944)}}
{{refimprove|date=May 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Infobox person
[[File:Barry john.jpg|thumb]]
| name = Barry John
'''Barry John''' (born 1944) is a British-born, Indian theatre director and teacher. He is the founder and former owner of Barry John Acting Studio. Now he is the face of "The Free Birds Collective" an actor training institute in Mumbai.{{Citation needed|date=September 2022}} He was the Founder-Director of 'Theatre Action Group' (TAG) (1973), one of the early theatre groups based in [[Delhi]].
| image = Barry john.jpg
| alt =
| caption = John in September 2022
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1944}}
| birth_place = [[Coventry]], England
| death_date = <!-- {{Death date and age|df=yes|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} Death date then birth -->
| death_place =
| citizenship = United Kingdom {{small|(1944–2012)}}<br/>India {{small|(2012–present)}}
| othername =
| occupation = {{hlist|Theatre director|actor|writer|acting coach}}
}}


'''Barry John''' (born 1944) is an English-born Indian theatre director, actor, and [[acting coach]].
⚫
some of his students went on to become [[Bollywood]] actors, including [[Shah Rukh Khan|Shahrukh Khan]], [[Manoj Bajpai]], [[Sushant Singh Rajput]], [[Dulquer Salman]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dnaindia.com/entertainment/interview-sushant-singh-rajput-on-his-fallout-with-aditya-chopra-and-his-shah-rukh-khan-hangover-2453946|title = Sushant Singh Rajput on his FALLOUT with Aditya Chopra and his Shah Rukh Khan hangover}}</ref> [[Samir Soni]] and [[Shiney Ahuja]],<ref>[http://www.hindustantimes.com/News/artandculture/Theatre-is-at-an-all-time-low-in-Delhi/Article1-214549.aspx 'Theatre is at an all-time low in Delhi'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606102630/http://www.hindustantimes.com/News/artandculture/Theatre-is-at-an-all-time-low-in-Delhi/Article1-214549.aspx |date=6 June 2011 }} [[Hindustan Times]], Mumbai, 9 April 2007.</ref><ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1935840.cms The guru of Shah Rukh] [[The Times of India]], TNN 22 April 2007.</ref> as well as Hollywood actors including [[Freida Pinto]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1225923 |title=Freida Pinto thanks mentor Barry John for success |newspaper=[[DNA (newspaper)|Daily News & Analysis]] |date=29 January 2009 |access-date=23 February 2009}}</ref> and one of the top 10 US media companies CEO [[Samir Arora]]. He has been based in India since 1969. After moving to Mumbai his acting school was opened in Mumbai as 'The Barry John Acting Studio', situated in [[Andheri]].<ref>[http://ww.smashits.com/events/1856/1/The-Barry-John-Acting-Studio-Inauguration.html The Barry John Acting Studio – Inauguration] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411064347/http://ww.smashits.com/events/1856/1/The-Barry-John-Acting-Studio-Inauguration.html |date=11 April 2009 }} 6 April 2007.</ref>


⚫
Some of his students became [[Bollywood]] actors including [[Shah Rukh Khan]], [[Manoj Bajpayee]], [[Varun Dhawan]], [[Dulquer Salmaan]], [[Kunal Kapoor (actor, born 1977)|Kunal Kapoor]], [[Rana Daggubati]], [[Samir Soni]] and [[Shiney Ahuja]], and actresses, such as [[Jacqueline Fernandez]], [[Richa Chadha]], [[Dia Mirza]], and [[Plabita Borthakur]],<ref>[http://www.hindustantimes.com/News/artandculture/Theatre-is-at-an-all-time-low-in-Delhi/Article1-214549.aspx 'Theatre is at an all-time low in Delhi'] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606102630/http://www.hindustantimes.com/News/artandculture/Theatre-is-at-an-all-time-low-in-Delhi/Article1-214549.aspx |date=6 June 2011 }} [[Hindustan Times]], Mumbai, 9 April 2007.</ref><ref>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1935840.cms The guru of Shah Rukh] [[The Times of India]], TNN 22 April 2007.</ref> as well as Hollywood actors including [[Freida Pinto]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1225923 |title=Freida Pinto thanks mentor Barry John for success |newspaper=[[DNA (newspaper)|Daily News & Analysis]] |date=29 January 2009 |access-date=23 February 2009}}</ref> and one of the top 10 US media companies CEO [[Samir Arora]]. He has been based in India since 1969. After moving to Mumbai his acting school was opened in Mumbai as 'The Barry John Acting Studio', situated in [[Andheri]].<ref>[http://ww.smashits.com/events/1856/1/The-Barry-John-Acting-Studio-Inauguration.html The Barry John Acting Studio – Inauguration] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090411064347/http://ww.smashits.com/events/1856/1/The-Barry-John-Acting-Studio-Inauguration.html |date=11 April 2009 }} 6 April 2007.</ref>
⚫
He was awarded the 1993 [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] for Theatre Direction by [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Theatre, and also the [[Sahitya Kala Parishad#Sahitya Kala Parishad Awards|Sahitya Kala Parishad Award]].

⚫
He was awarded the 1993 [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] for Theatre Direction by [[Sangeet Natak Akademi]], India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Theatre, and also the [[Sahitya Kala Parishad#Sahitya Kala Parishad Awards|Sahitya Kala Parishad Award]].{{cn|date=February 2024}}


==Early life and education==
==Early life and education==
Barry John was born in 1944, in the industrial city of [[Coventry]], [[Warwickshire]] (now in the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]]), England.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/barry-john-wins-major-theatre-award/story-m7l2pzYPQb6NcxrYI6z5gO.html | title=Barry John wins major theatre award | newspaper=Hindustan Times | first=Paramita | last=Ghosh | date=19 March 2020 | access-date=22 June 2021 }}</ref> His father, an engineer by profession, joined the navy during the World War II and his mother was a home-maker, and his younger sister was Christine.
Barry John was born in 1944 in [[Coventry]], [[Warwickshire]] (now in the [[West Midlands (county)|West Midlands]]), England.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/barry-john-wins-major-theatre-award/story-m7l2pzYPQb6NcxrYI6z5gO.html | title=Barry John wins major theatre award | newspaper=Hindustan Times | first=Paramita | last=Ghosh | date=19 March 2020 | access-date=22 June 2021 }}</ref> His father, an engineer by profession, joined the navy during the World War II and his mother was a home-maker. He had a younger sister, Christine.{{cn|date=February 2024}}


By the age of 12, he had started selling newspapers, and pursued theatre in the evenings. At 15, his father fixed up a job for him at the factory where he worked. After finishing his schooling, he moved to London, but unable to find place in acting schools, he joined [[Leeds University]] at Leeds, [[West Yorkshire]]. There he trained to become a theatre teacher, for three years under John Hutchson, the head of department.<ref name=toi>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/delhi-times/the-drama-of-barry-johns-life/articleshow/29185414.cms The drama of Barry John's life] Divya Vasisht, [[The Times of India]], 23 November 2002.</ref>
By the age of 12, he had started selling newspapers, and pursued theatre in the evenings. At 15, his father fixed up a job for him at the factory where he worked. After finishing his schooling, he moved to London, but unable to find place in acting schools, he joined [[Leeds University]], where he trained to become a theatre teacher.<ref name=toi>[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/delhi-times/the-drama-of-barry-johns-life/articleshow/29185414.cms The drama of Barry John's life], ''[[The Times of India]]'', 23 November 2002.{{bettersource|date=February 2024}}</ref>

Based in India since the 1970s, John became an Indian citizen in 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/art-and-culture/barry-john-wins-major-theatre-award/story-m7l2pzYPQb6NcxrYI6z5gO.html |title=Barry John wins major theatre award |website=Hindustan Times |date=19 March 2020 }}</ref>


==Career==
==Career==
[[File:With the TFBC actors.jpg|thumb|The guru and the chelas]]
[[File:With the TFBC actors.jpg|thumb|John with his theater group students]]
Deeply influenced by India, and its culture, during the [[hippie]] era, he even delved into the [[Upanishads]]. Then in 1968, Pandit Ravi Shankar staged a concert at the Coventry Cathedral, a few days later, he saw an ad in the newspapers for a teaching job in India, to which he applied. Thus aged 22 he landed in [[Bangalore]], where he stayed for the next two years, teaching English during the day at Regional Institute of English on Cunningham Road, and doing radio programmes. Evenings were for amateur theatre, with Bangalore Amateur Dramatics Society and the Bangalore Little Theatre. After arriving in Delhi in 1970, he joined the 'Yatrik' theatre group, staying at the [[YMCA]] hostel and working as a freelance teacher in schools and colle
Deeply influenced by India, and its culture, during the [[hippie]] era, he even delved into the [[Upanishads]]. Then in 1968, Pandit Ravi Shankar staged a concert at the Coventry Cathedral, a few days later, he saw an ad in the newspapers for a teaching job in India, to which he applied. Thus aged 22 he landed in [[Bangalore]], where he stayed for the next two years, teaching English during the day at Regional Institute of English on Cunningham Road, and doing radio programmes. Evenings were for amateur theatre, with Bangalore Amateur Dramatics Society and the Bangalore Little Theatre. After arriving in Delhi in 1970, he joined the [[Yatrik (theatre group)|'Yatrik' theatre group]], staying at the [[YMCA]] hostel and working as a freelance teacher in schools and colleges.

[[File:Barry john with THE FREE BIRDS COLLECTIVE actors.jpg|thumb|Barry john with THE FREE BIRDS COLLECTIVE actors]]
[[File:Barry john with THE FREE BIRDS COLLECTIVE actors.jpg|thumb|Barry John with The Free Birds Collective students]]
In 1973, he founded the Theatre Action Group (TAG), with [[Siddharth Basu]], [[Roshan Seth]], [[Lilette Dubey]], [[Mira Nair]], Ravi Dubey, [[Manohar Singh]], Khalid Tyabji, [[Pamela Rooks]], [[Surekha Sikri]] and [[Pankaj Kapoor]]; the group performed various forms of drama till 1977, when he joined as a faculty of the [[National School of Drama]], [[Delhi]] (1977–80), and later became the Founder-Director of the NSD's Theatre in Education Company (TIE)(1989).<ref name=toi/><ref>[http://imagoindia.com//Director.html Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328164932/http://imagoindia.com//Director.html |date=28 March 2018 }} IMAGO.</ref> He has been conducting theatre workshops ever since and in 1997, opened the 'Imago Acting School' in Delhi.
In 1973, he founded the Theatre Action Group (TAG), with [[Siddharth Basu]], [[Roshan Seth]], [[Lilette Dubey]], [[Mira Nair]], [[Manohar Singh]], [[Pamela Rooks]], [[Surekha Sikri]], and [[Pankaj Kapoor]], among other. The group performed various forms of drama until 1977, when John joined the faculty of the [[National School of Drama]], [[Delhi]] (1977–80), and later became the Founder-Director of the NSD's Theatre in Education Company (TIE)(1989).<ref name=toi/><ref>[http://imagoindia.com//Director.html Profile] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180328164932/http://imagoindia.com//Director.html |date=28 March 2018 }} IMAGO.</ref> He has been conducting theatre workshops ever since and in 1997, opened the 'Imago Acting School' in Delhi.


He also appeared in a few films, like [[Satyajit Ray]]'s ''[[Shatranj Ke Khilari]]'' (''The Chess Players'') (1977), [[Richard Attenborough]]'s ''[[Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]'' (1982), ''[[Massey Sahib]]'' (1985). He also acted in several of his own productions, as well as that of other directors, including [[Roysten Abel]]'s ''Othello a Play in Black and White''. In 2010, he appeared in ''[[Tere Bin Laden]]'' in the role of a United States security general.
He also appeared in a few films, like [[Satyajit Ray]]'s ''[[Shatranj Ke Khilari]]'' (''The Chess Players'') (1977), [[Richard Attenborough]]'s ''[[Gandhi (film)|Gandhi]]'' (1982), ''[[Massey Sahib]]'' (1985). He also acted in several of his own productions, as well as that of other directors, including [[Roysten Abel]]'s ''Othello a Play in Black and White''. In 2010, he appeared in ''[[Tere Bin Laden]]'' in the role of a United States security general.
<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090529183446/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/08/16/stories/2006081601070100.htm Star guru: Film stars such as Shah Rukh Khan have trained under him...] [[The Hindu]], 16 August 2006.</ref>
<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090529183446/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/08/16/stories/2006081601070100.htm Star guru: Film stars such as Shah Rukh Khan have trained under him...] ''[[The Hindu]]'', 16 August 2006.</ref>


In 2007, he moved to Mumbai, where his acting school was opened as 'Barry John Acting Studio',<ref>[http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/interviews/steven_baker.asp Interview with Barry John] mumbaitheatreguide.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140812185641/http://www.findurclass.com/furc/classes/Barry+John's+Acting+Studio--249--2274 Barry John Acting Studio In Mumbai ] FindURClass.</ref> in the same year, he also wrote a book "Playing for Real", published by Macmillan, a chronicle of 178 drama exercises for children, and co-authored by Rajan Chawla and Cathy Yogin, students of his Imago Theatre in Education Company.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121105111426/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/09/24/stories/2007092450030100.htm Barry John reveals past peeves and new hopes] [[The Hindu]], 24 September 2007.</ref>
In 2007, he moved to Mumbai, where his acting school was opened as 'Barry John Acting Studio',<ref>[http://www.mumbaitheatreguide.com/dramas/interviews/steven_baker.asp Interview with Barry John] mumbaitheatreguide.</ref><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140812185641/http://www.findurclass.com/furc/classes/Barry+John's+Acting+Studio--249--2274 Barry John Acting Studio In Mumbai ] FindURClass.</ref> in the same year, he also wrote a book "Playing for Real", published by Macmillan, a chronicle of 178 drama exercises for children, and co-authored by Rajan Chawla and Cathy Yogin, students of his Imago Theatre in Education Company.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121105111426/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/09/24/stories/2007092450030100.htm "Barry John reveals past peeves and new hopes"], ''[[The Hindu]]'', 24 September 2007.</ref>


==Filmography==
==Filmography==
Line 58: Line 76:


==Awards==
==Awards==
* 1993: [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]: Theatre Direction.<ref>[http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist-theatre-direction.htm Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards – Theatre Direction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903181327/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist-theatre-direction.htm |date=3 September 2015 }} [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] Official listings.</ref>
* 1993: [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]: Theatre Direction.<ref>[http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist-theatre-direction.htm Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards – Theatre Direction] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150903181327/http://www.sangeetnatak.org/sna/awardeeslist-theatre-direction.htm |date=3 September 2015 }} [[Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]] official listings.</ref>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist}} 14 ^http://photogallery.indiatimes.com/pictures-of-actor-rishabh-jain-in-his-upcoming-movie-lethal-trip/articleshow/96179701.cms


==External links==
==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0424134|Barry John}}
* {{IMDb name|0424134|Barry John}}
* [https://www.instagram.com/thefreebirdscollective/]
* [https://www.bjas.in/about-bjas/]


{{authority control}}
{{authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:John, Barry}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:John, Barry}}
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[[Category:1944 births]]
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British theatre directors]]
[[Category:British male stage actors]]
[[Category:British male film actors]]
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]
[[Category:Indian theatre directors]]
[[Category:Indian male stage actors]]
[[Category:Indian male stage actors]]
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[[Category:Drama teachers]]
[[Category:Indian male film actors]]
[[Category:Indian male film actors]]
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Drama teachers]]
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[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Coventry]]
[[Category:People from Coventry]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the National School of Drama]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the National School of Drama]]
[[Category:Male actors in Hindi cinema]]
[[Category:Male actors in Hindi cinema]]
[[Category:British emigrants to India]]
[[Category:Male actors from Mumbai]]
[[Category:English emigrants to India]]
[[Category:Naturalised citizens of India]]
[[Category:Indian people of English descent]]
[[Category:Actors of European descent in Indian films]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award]]

Latest revision as of 05:47, 18 October 2024

Barry John
John in September 2022
Born1944 (age 79–80)
Coventry, England
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom (1944–2012)
India (2012–present)
Occupations
  • Theatre director
  • actor
  • writer
  • acting coach

Barry John (born 1944) is an English-born Indian theatre director, actor, and acting coach.

Some of his students became Bollywood actors including Shah Rukh Khan, Manoj Bajpayee, Varun Dhawan, Dulquer Salmaan, Kunal Kapoor, Rana Daggubati, Samir Soni and Shiney Ahuja, and actresses, such as Jacqueline Fernandez, Richa Chadha, Dia Mirza, and Plabita Borthakur,[1][2] as well as Hollywood actors including Freida Pinto[3] and one of the top 10 US media companies CEO Samir Arora. He has been based in India since 1969. After moving to Mumbai his acting school was opened in Mumbai as 'The Barry John Acting Studio', situated in Andheri.[4]

He was awarded the 1993 Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for Theatre Direction by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Theatre, and also the Sahitya Kala Parishad Award.[citation needed]

Early life and education

[edit]

Barry John was born in 1944 in Coventry, Warwickshire (now in the West Midlands), England.[5] His father, an engineer by profession, joined the navy during the World War II and his mother was a home-maker. He had a younger sister, Christine.[citation needed]

By the age of 12, he had started selling newspapers, and pursued theatre in the evenings. At 15, his father fixed up a job for him at the factory where he worked. After finishing his schooling, he moved to London, but unable to find place in acting schools, he joined Leeds University, where he trained to become a theatre teacher.[6]

Based in India since the 1970s, John became an Indian citizen in 2012.[7]

Career

[edit]
John with his theater group students

Deeply influenced by India, and its culture, during the hippie era, he even delved into the Upanishads. Then in 1968, Pandit Ravi Shankar staged a concert at the Coventry Cathedral, a few days later, he saw an ad in the newspapers for a teaching job in India, to which he applied. Thus aged 22 he landed in Bangalore, where he stayed for the next two years, teaching English during the day at Regional Institute of English on Cunningham Road, and doing radio programmes. Evenings were for amateur theatre, with Bangalore Amateur Dramatics Society and the Bangalore Little Theatre. After arriving in Delhi in 1970, he joined the 'Yatrik' theatre group, staying at the YMCA hostel and working as a freelance teacher in schools and colleges.

Barry John with The Free Birds Collective students

In 1973, he founded the Theatre Action Group (TAG), with Siddharth Basu, Roshan Seth, Lilette Dubey, Mira Nair, Manohar Singh, Pamela Rooks, Surekha Sikri, and Pankaj Kapoor, among other. The group performed various forms of drama until 1977, when John joined the faculty of the National School of Drama, Delhi (1977–80), and later became the Founder-Director of the NSD's Theatre in Education Company (TIE)(1989).[6][8] He has been conducting theatre workshops ever since and in 1997, opened the 'Imago Acting School' in Delhi.

He also appeared in a few films, like Satyajit Ray's Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players) (1977), Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982), Massey Sahib (1985). He also acted in several of his own productions, as well as that of other directors, including Roysten Abel's Othello a Play in Black and White. In 2010, he appeared in Tere Bin Laden in the role of a United States security general. [9]

In 2007, he moved to Mumbai, where his acting school was opened as 'Barry John Acting Studio',[10][11] in the same year, he also wrote a book "Playing for Real", published by Macmillan, a chronicle of 178 drama exercises for children, and co-authored by Rajan Chawla and Cathy Yogin, students of his Imago Theatre in Education Company.[12]

Filmography

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes
1977 Chess Players
1982 Gandhi Police Superintendent
1986 Massey Sahib Charles Adam
1992 Miss Beatty's Children John Westcott
2000 Shaheed Udham Singh Michael Atlee
2003 In Othello Barry / Iago
2007 The Great Indian Butterfly
2009 Thanks Maa Priest
2010 Teen Patti
2010 Tere Bin Laden Ted Wood
2012 Chittagong Wilkinson
2014 M Cream Vishnu Das

Awards

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ 'Theatre is at an all-time low in Delhi' Archived 6 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Hindustan Times, Mumbai, 9 April 2007.
  2. ^ The guru of Shah Rukh The Times of India, TNN 22 April 2007.
  3. ^ "Freida Pinto thanks mentor Barry John for success". Daily News & Analysis. 29 January 2009. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
  4. ^ The Barry John Acting Studio – Inauguration Archived 11 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine 6 April 2007.
  5. ^ Ghosh, Paramita (19 March 2020). "Barry John wins major theatre award". Hindustan Times. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
  6. ^ a b The drama of Barry John's life, The Times of India, 23 November 2002.[better source needed]
  7. ^ "Barry John wins major theatre award". Hindustan Times. 19 March 2020.
  8. ^ Profile Archived 28 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine IMAGO.
  9. ^ Star guru: Film stars such as Shah Rukh Khan have trained under him... The Hindu, 16 August 2006.
  10. ^ Interview with Barry John mumbaitheatreguide.
  11. ^ Barry John Acting Studio In Mumbai FindURClass.
  12. ^ "Barry John reveals past peeves and new hopes", The Hindu, 24 September 2007.
  13. ^ Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards – Theatre Direction Archived 3 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Sangeet Natak Akademi Award official listings.
[edit]
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