ALEXANDER BARNETT - WRITER / DIRECTOR / VINCENT VAN GOGH

Listed as third in top 10 portrayals of Van Gogh

Early in his acting career,  Alexander Barnett  performed on  Playhouse 90, Target: The Corrupters,  Arrest and Trial, Climax!,  The Great Adventure, Kraft Suspense Theatre,  G.E. Theatre,  The Defenders  and  Rawhide.  He began his  directing  career in Los Angeles with  Winterset.  The Los Angeles Times said, “There is only one word for this production.  Magnificent.”  He followed this with acclaimed productions such outstanding contemporary plays as  Look Back in Anger,  Golden Boy  and  A View from the Bridge.  His  writing career  also began in Los Angeles with an adaptation for the stage of  Wuthering Heights  and his first stage play Remnants of a Man. 

Relocating to New York, he embarked on a series of acclaimed Shakespearean productions beginning with  Macbeth.  The Village Voice said, “Mr. Barnett has directed with strength, integrity and a multitude of original touches.”  He continued his love affair with the classics of the American theatre in a production of  Death of a Salesman.   During this time, he also wrote the play:  Stranger on the Earth , which had two New York productions and a European tour.

Determined to tour the world with the great plays of the English language, he founded  Classic Theatre International.  Their maiden production was Arthur Miller’s  A View from the Bridge,  which firmly established the company upon the stages of Europe.  Critics said, “The American actors exploded onto the stage with so much intensity that the audience was both taken aback and enthralled.”

His production of  King Lear  marked the first time an American company ever toured Europe with a Shakespearean play. This production was an outstanding artistic success for the company.  Critics in Switzerland said, “Alexander Barnett gave us a dazzling illustration of what a production of King Lear should be like.  It is a dense interpretation, concise, lucid and powerful, bestowing an intense life upon the tragedy.” 

German reviewers said, “He allows the profundity and effect of the play to crystallize, undiffused by unnecessary pathos.  He has completely removed any superfluous effects and padding from his fluid, tightly directed production.”  Other critics remarked “With little fanfare Classic Theatre, under the direction of Alexander Barnett, astonishes: They had the audience enraptured.”  Other Shakespearean plays followed. Of   Othello,  critics noted, “The crowning touch is the directorial concept.”; “The audience was totally caught up in the emotions and thoughts of the characters.”; “an intensely moving portrayal,” and “Rarely has one followed the action in such fascination as in this interpretation of the play.”

Of his production of  Macbeth,  critics said, “Alfred Hitchcock couldn't have done it better.  A brilliant directorial concept” and “Brilliantly directed…profoundly relevant to our world today.” (Cologne)  Switzerland said "An outstanding production.  The audience was riveted from beginning to end.”  Others noted that “Barnett's direction is original and illuminating...”; “A forceful and outstanding production.”; “Beautifully directed.” and “Barnett displays a total mastery of Shakespeare.”  Over the following years, the work produced by Classic Theatre International under Barnett's artistic direction was seen on major  stages  in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg, Greece, France, Spain, England, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Japan.

For the group, Barnett wrote his second stage adaptation, an acclaimed version of  One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Of this production, which toured throughout Europe for well over a year, the critic for the Oslo Aftenposten said the production “...was infinitely to be preferred to the movie.”  Barnett's most prominent roles include  Lear,  Hamlet,  Iago, Macbeth,  Richard III, Shylock, Prospero, Richard II, Coriolanus, Brutus, Oedipus,  Willy Loman,  Eddie Carbone,  Becket and Heathcliff.  In addition to plays by  Sophocles,  Ibsen,  Chekhov,  Anouilh  and most of the American classics, he has  directed  all of the Shakespearean tragedies.  

He is also an acting coach specializing in character development and has lectured extensively as well on Shakespearean tragedy and on the life of Van Gogh, Gauguin and the Impressionists at universities and libraries across Europe.  After returning to the States and appearing in a number of independent feature films, he wrote his first screenplay,  The Eyes of Van Gogh.   One critic said that “... it is arguably the most poignant and profound portrayal of Vincent van Gogh ever put on film.” He co-wrote and starred in the film  I Did Her Wrong.

His honors and awards include: 

Winner - Houston International Film Festival - Director/Screenwriter The Eyes of Van Gogh
Official Submission - Santa Fe Film Festival The Eyes of Van Gogh
Best Actor - New York International Independent Film and Video Festival No Deposit No Return
Best Film – New York Independent Film Festival No Deposit No Return
Finalist - Project Greenlight The Final Resolution
Official Selection - Sundance Film Festival; Winner - Verona Love Scenes Film Festival Mr. Vincent
Finalist - Cine Golden Eagle Moonshot
Finalist - Miami Urban Film Festival; Official Selection - Los Angeles Cinefest, St. Louis Black Film Festival, Rhode Island International Film Festival Appassionata  February 2020   Top 10 Vincent Van Gogh Portrayals On Screen

April 2020   5 Best Movies about Vincent van Gogh

Alexander Barnett as Van Gogh; Keith Perry as his father Theodorus