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Description: This book chapter explores the work of the English playwright Howard Barker and his theatre company The Wrestling School. In particular the chapter examines the political and cultural reception of Barker’s plays and the creation of The Wrestling School as a necessary adjunct to that reception. The chapter argues for a way of reading Barker’s drama that places it in a unique position in contemporary European theatre, offering a combination of poetic text with a visually precise mise-en-scene that creates what Barker has described as ‘a theatre of catastrophe’. This style of theatre is defined principally by the ensemble vision of The Wrestling School, a collection of actors, designers and directors who come together to produce Barker’s plays. As the artistic director, Barker was able to put into place the conditions that created the type of production values now associated with The Wrestling School …