John Roman Baker is a British poet, playwright and novelist.
Theatre
His first play 'Limitations' launched the first season of the Gay Sweatshop Theatre company. In 1989, his play 'Crying Celibate Tears' was presented at the Sussex Aids Centre) within the context of the Brighton Festival. This 'festival within a festival' staged at the Sussex Aids Centre also included work by Philip Core, Peter Burton and Neil Bartlett. 'Crying Celibate Tears' received critical acclaim from the Brighton press, The Guardian and Plays and Players and was the launching pad for Aids Positive Underground Theatre, the company founded by Baker as a positive cultural response.
In June 1992, Michael Arditti, wrote in Plays International that: "...in England too the theatrical response [to AIDS] has been maturing ... and has come of age with John Roman Baker's "Crying Celibate Tears Trilogy" ... The keynotes of Mr Baker's writing are already in evidence; a barbed wit, an utter lack of sentimentality and a refusal to shy away from unpalatable truths ... the one horror which is happily absent being political correctness. ... In short, this is the real world: a humorous, harrowing, heartening world, and one which remains engrossing for the entire six hours of its length. ... Seen as a whole, the Trilogy is an overwhelming experience."
Performed plays include:
Crying Celibate Tears, 1989
The Ice Pick, 1990
Freedom to Party, 1991
The Crying Celibate Tears Trilogy, 1992
Easy, 1993
In One Take, 1994
The Last Century of Desire, 1995
Limitations, 1975
QueerBashed, 1995
Russian Roulette; 1998
The Pornographic Wall; 1998
Heroes, 1999
The Prostitution Plays, 2000
The Club Beautiful, 2001
Sexually Speaking 1+1, 2001
The War Fuck, 2002
East Side Skin, 2003
Things Happen, 2004
Romophobia, 2005
Prisoners of Sex, 2006
Touched, 2008
Adapted work by other writers:
Close to the Knives (David Wojnarowicz), 1993
Unperformed plays include:
Gala, 1990
Ibsen’s Ghosts, 2004
After a War, 2016
Remainers, Apologies Not Included, 2019
His work has been produced in many countries. From 1990–1996 the Brighton and Edinburgh Festivals often saw the first performances of his new plays. In 1990, his play The Ice Pick won the "Zap" Award for best theatre at the Brighton Festival jointly with the Satirikon theatre of Moscow. The controversy and opposition towards his work and that of Aids Positive Underground Theatre, garnered support and friendship from other artists, notably Howard Barker, Lindsay Kemp and Derek Jarman.He was the first dramatist to adapt the work of American artist David Wojnarowicz for the stage. 'Close to the Knives' was performed at the 1993 Brighton Festival with the role of David Wojnarowicz played by actor Simon Merrells. In 1994 the success in Edinburgh of 'In One Take' led to performances at Teatri di Vita, Bologna, Italy. Since then, his work has continued to be popular in Italy and has been seen in Firenze, Modena, Forlí, L'Aquila, Reggio Emilia, Roma and Milano. His most popular work 'The Ice Pick' has been staged on multiple occasions in the UK and Italy as well as in the US at the Celebration Theatre, Los Angeles in 1993.
He moved to Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1997, where he continued the work of Aputheatre until 2008. During this period the focus of his work was mainly focused on the personal and social effects of pan-European migration following the collapse of communism.
In 1999 he updated and reworked 'The Ice Pick' for 2 characters under the title 'Heroes'. 'Heroes' was toured by Aputheatre around the Netherlands before being performed in Warsaw as part of the 1st Polish Gay Pride festival. 'The Prostitution Plays' was premiered for Warsaw Gay Pride in 2000 and in 2001 his play 'Sexually Speaking 1+1' was presented in Kiev, Ukraine.
Following its Amsterdam premiere, his play 'Prisoners of Sex' was translated into Italian by Antonio Serrano as 'Prigionieri del Sesso' and has been performed in Milan and Rome.
Short plays from 'Remainers, Apologies Not Included' were rejected by Cast Iron Theatre for an unrehearsed reading in December 2019. Among the two short plays submitted were queer male scenarios which included responses to homelessness, and ostensibly straight men cruising each other on Brighton Palace Pier.