Frances Barber

Frances Barber
Born	(1958-05-13) 13 May 1958 Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
Occupation	Actress

Frances Barber (born on 13 May 1958 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England) is an Olivier Award-nominated British actress with a long and distinguished stage career. She has also appeared in numerous television productions.

Personal life

Barber studied drama at Bangor University, in Wales where she was a contemporary of director Danny Boyle, who became her boyfriend. One of her closest friends is the actor Ian McKellen, who funded a library in her name in India. In 2006, she received an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Wolverhampton.

Recent career

Stage

With Pet Shop Boys, she starred in their musical Closer to Heaven in 2001 as well as guest singer for the song "Friendly Fire" on their 2006 live concert at the Mermaid Theatre. She also appeared alongside Ian McKellen and Roger Allam in the Old Vic's pantomime production of Aladdin over the 2005–06 Christmas season. She again starred with Ian McKellen in 2007 playing Goneril in Trevor Nunn's production of King Lear and as Arkadina in Chekhov's The Seagull with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon followed by a world tour throughout the year. They again performed the two plays in repertory at the New London Theatre on Drury Lane, opening in November 2007 and closing mid-January 2008. She appeared in Madame de Sade opposite Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike at the Wyndham's Theatre, and will soon be appearing opposite Niall Buggy in Brian Friel's Afterplay, in a celebration of the author's work.

Television

Barber is a regular face on British television; she guest starred in the spring 2007 season of the BBCs Hustle, reprised her role as Goneril in the 2008 TV film of King Lear. In 2008, she appeared as Mrs Prentice in the BBC sitcom Beautiful People and Nancy in Casualty. In 2011, she guest-starred in the Doctor Who episodes "A Good Man Goes to War" and The Wedding of River Song as Madame Kovarian. Her character appeared in various cameos throughout the sixth series, featuring briefly in "Day of the Moon", "The Curse of the Black Spot", "The Rebel Flesh", "The Almost People" and "Closing Time". She starred in the episode 'Polymorph' in series 3 of the British sci-fi comedy show Red Dwarf. In 2012, Barber went on to join the cast of the popular BBC One drama, Silk.

Theatre career

• Ooh La La (Hull Truck Theatre, 1979)
• Riff Raff Rules (Theatre Royal Stratford East)
• Space Ache (Tricycle Theatre, Wakefield, 1980)
• Emilia in Othello (Oxford Playhouse)
• La Guerra (The Battle), Desperado Corner and Madame Louise (Glasgow Citizens', 1980, and Venice Biennale Festival, 1981)
• The Treat (Institute of Contemporary Arts)
• The Mission (Soho Poly)
• Hard Feelings (Oxford Playhouse and The Bush, 1983)
• Turning Over (The Bush, 1983)
• Marguerite in Camille (Royal Shakespeare Company, The Other Place, 1984, and Comedy Theatre, 1985 – Olivier nomination for Most Promising Newcomer)
• Ophelia in Hamlet (RSC Barbican Theatre, 1985)
• Love's Labour's Lost (RSC The Other Place, Comedy Theatre, 1985)
• The Dead Monkey (RSC The Pit, 1986))
• Summer and Smoke (Haymarket Theatre)
• Viola in Twelfth Night (Renaissance, Riverside Studios, 1987)
• Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (Royal Exchange, Manchester, 1988)
• My Heart's a Suitcase (Royal Court, 1990)
• Over a Barrel (Watford Palace Theatre)
• Imagine Drowning (Hampstead Theatre, 1991)
• Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (National Theatre, 1992)
• Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion (National Theatre, 1992)
• Insignificance (Donmar Warehouse, 1995)
• Uncle Vanya (Minerva Theatre, Chichester and Albery Theatre, 1996 – TMA Award)
• Closer (Lyric Theatre, National Theatre West End transfer, 1998)
• Closer to Heaven (Arts Theatre,2001)
• Valerie in Tales from the Vienna Woods (National Theatre, 2003)
• Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Gielgud Theatre, 2004)
• Dim Sum in Aladdin (Old Vic pantomime, 2005)
• The Narrator in Shane Cullinan's The Pieta St Paul's, Covent Garden, 2006)
• Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare's Globe, London, 2006)
• Arkadina in The Seagull and Goneril in King Lear (RSC, Courtyard Theatre Stratford-upon-Avon, and New London Theatre, 2007)
• Madame de Sade (Donmar West End, Wyndham's Theatre, 2009)
• Afterplay (Edinburgh Festival, then Gate Theatre, Dublin, 2009)

Select filmography

• A Zed & Two Noughts (1985)
• Castaway (1986)
• Prick Up Your Ears (1987)
• Sammy and Rosie Get Laid (1987)
• Behaving Badly (1989) (TV)
• Red Dwarf – "Polymorph" (1989) (TV)
• Soft Top Hard Shoulder (1992)
• The Leaving of Liverpool (1992)
• Giorgino (1994)
• Space Precinct (1995) (TV)
• A Royal Scandal (1996) (TV)
• The Ice House (1997) (TV)
• Still Crazy (1998)
• Murder Most Horrid (1998)
• Bremner, Bird and Fortune (1999) (TV)
• Manchild (2002) (TV)
• Flyfishing (2002) (TV)
• My Family – "Owed to Susan" (as Vanessa, 2003) (TV)
• Boudica (2003)
• Monkey Dust (2003) (TV) (voice)
• Evilenko (2004)
• The IT Crowd – "Aunt Irma Visits" (2005) (TV)
• Funland (2005) (TV)
• Hustle (2007) (TV)
• King Lear (2008)
• Beautiful People (2008)
• The Fattest Man in Britain (2009)
• The Royal (2009–)
• Doctor Who (seven episodes, 2011)
• Friday Night Dinner (2011)
• Silk (2012–)

See also

• List of residents of Wolverhampton

External links

• Frances Barber at IMDb