Patrick Barlow

Patrick Barlow is probably most well known as founder, writer and co-performer of the National Theatre of Brent whose two-man epics (including Zulu, the Charge of the Light Brigade, the French Revolution, Wagner’s Ring, the Messiah and The Charles and Diana Story) have become somewhat legendary both on stage and television. Their last TV appearance was Massive Landmarks of the Twentieth Century for Channel 4. While their most recent stage appearance was at the Royal National Theatre in The Wonder of Sex. The press has said of the National Theatre of Brent: “Blissful comedy of incompetence that somehow touches on the profound.”

Patrick has also appeared in the West End with Dawn French and as Toad in Alan Bennett’s Wind in the Willows also at the National. He has appeared on television in his own film Queen of the East with Jennifer Saunders and as Columbus in his version of the The True Story of Christopher Columbus story for BBC2.  He played hapless office manager Bob in Simon Nye’s sitcom Is It Legal? While recent films include Bridget Jones Diary, Shakespeare in Love and Notting Hill.

His two previous books Shakespeare – the Truth and The Complete History of the Whole World were adapted by him for BBC Radio 4. The latter won the Sony Radio Award and the Premier Ondas Award for Best European Comedy. He wrote Van Gogh for BBC 2 with Linus Roach as Vincent which won him a Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. He has recently adapted The Canterville Ghost as a feature film and is currently adapting Thackeray’s Vanity Fair for Walt Disney.

He is delighted to be working with Puffin Books – the greatest children’s publisher in his view – and particularly excited to have this chance to write Mary - a new version of the Christmas Story as seen through Mary’s eyes. It is a story that has enthralled and obsessed him for literally years. Mary will be his first novel.

Titles

The Messiah  (Nick Hern Books, 2001)

Shakespeare: The Truth!  (Methuen, 1993)

All the World's a Globe: From Lemur to Cosmonaut  (Methuen, 1987)