Howard Barker is an internationally renowned dramatist, whose first plays were performed at the Royal Court and by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Since 1992 his work has been presented by his own company The Wrestling School. Barker's theatre is characterized by its poetic, non-naturalistic form and inhabits worlds of contradiction, suffering and sexual passion. Barker is also a poet and theorist of theatre, whose 'Theatre of Catastrophe' defines a new form of tragedy for our times.

The Fence in its Thousandth Year was inspired by the long distance fence whilst it was under construction in the Gaza to separate the Palestinian and Jewish communities.
Set in a world of rising frontiers and illegal immigration, The Fence uses powerful poetic language, provocative ideas and rich, dark humour to build a compelling epic about scandal in a ruling monarchy and its subsequent downfall.
At the heart of this tale is the intensely personal story of a blind boy's struggle to discover his true identity in a world where nothing is what it seems...
The Fence, produced by the Wrestling Company, opened at the Birmingham Rep in June 2005, followed by a UK tour.