Red Noses is a comedy about the black death by Peter Barnes, first staged at

Barbican Theatre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exh ...

in 1985. It depicted a sprightly priest, originally played by

Antony Sher Sir Antony Sher (14 June 1949 – 2 December 2021) was a British actor, writer and theatre director of South African origin. A two-time Laurence Olivier Award winner and a four-time nominee, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1982 a ...

, who travelled around the

plague Plague or The Plague may refer to: Agriculture, fauna, and medicine *Plague (disease), a disease caused by ''Yersinia pestis'' * An epidemic of infectious disease (medical or agricultural) * A pandemic caused by such a disease * A swarm of pes ...

-affected villages of 14th century France with a band of fools, known as Floties, offering holy assistance. It was for this play that Barnes won his

Olivier award The Laurence Olivier Awards, or simply the Olivier Awards, are presented annually by the Society of London Theatre to recognise excellence in professional theatre in London at an annual ceremony in the capital. The awards were originally known a ...

Awards and nominations

;Awards * 1985 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play

Original cast

*Alain Boutros - David Whitaker *Archbishop Monselet - Raymond Bowers *Attendant, Leper -

Phillip Dupuy Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

*Bonville, Lefranc - Norman Henry *Brodin -

Pete Postlethwaite Peter William Postlethwaite, (7 February 1946 – 2 January 2011) was an English character actor. After minor television appearances, including in '' The Professionals'', his first major success arose through the British autobiographical fi ...

*Camille - Rowena Roberts *Charles Bembo -

Derek Crewe Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of ''Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler". Common variants of the name are ...

*Dr Antrechau, Patris - Peter Theedom *Druce -

Jimmy Yuill James Evander Munro Yuill (born 13 February 1956) is a Scottish actor. He is a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company and later joined the Renaissance Theatre Company. He has appeared in many of Kenneth Branagh's films, most recently as Ed ...

*Evaline, First Leper -

Sarah Woodward Sarah Woodward (born 3 April 1963) is a British actress. She won the Olivier Award for best performance in a supporting role in 1998 for her role in ''Tom & Clem'' by Stephen Churchett., directed by Richard Wilson, and was nominated for a Tony ...

*First Flagellant -

Steve Swinscoe ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve A ...

*Frapper -

Nicholas Woodeson Nicholas Woodeson (born 30 November 1949) is an English film, television and theatre actor, and Drama Desk and Olivier award nominee. Early life Woodeson was born in Sudan and lived in the Middle East as a boy. He started performing at Preparato ...

*Grez -

Nicholas Farrell Nicholas C. Frost (born 1955), known professionally as Nicholas Farrell, is an English stage, film and television actor. Education Farrell was educated at Fryerns Grammar and Technical School in Basildon, Essex, followed by the University o ...

*Jean le Grue -

Bernard Horsfall Bernard Arthur Gordon Horsfall (20 November 1930 – 28 January 2013) was an English actor of stage and screen. Early life Horsfall was born in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, and educated at Rugby School. He trained as an actor at the Webbe ...

*Marcel Flote -

*Marguerite -

Polly James Polly James (born 8 July 1941) is an English actress with a career in theatre, film, television and radio. Career Pauline James was born in Blackburn, Lancashire, under the name Pauline Devaney. After graduating from RADA, her TV career began ...

*Marie -

Katharine Rogers Katharine Sarah Rogers (born 21 December 1960) is a British television actress. Rogers was born in Addiscombe, Croydon, London. Her first major television role was that of firefighter Josie Ingham in three series of '' London's Burning''. She ...

*Mistral, Bigod -

Nicholas Bell Nicholas Bell (born 15 August 1958) is an English actor who has worked in Australia for more than 20 years. He works regularly with the Melbourne Theatre Company as well as with all the major television broadcasters in Australia, most notably th ...

*Mme de Vonville -

Yvonne Coulette Yvonne is a female given name. It is the feminine form of Yvon, which is derived from the French name Yves and Yvette. It is from the French word ''iv'', meaning "yew" (or tree). Since yew wood was used for bows, Ivo may have been an occupation ...

*Moncriff, Jacques B -

Charles Millham Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

*Mother Metz - Yvonne Coulette *Pellico -

Don McKillop Donald Harley McKillop (15 February 1928 – 19 December 2005) was an English actor who trained at RADA. Notable roles include Bert the Landlord in the ''Doctor Who'' fifth and final serial of the eighth season, '' The Dæmons'' in 1971, Jack ...

*Pope Clement VI - Christopher Benjamin *Rochfort -

Richard Easton John Richard Easton (March 22, 1933 – December 2, 2019) was a Canadian actor, best known for his portrayal of Brian Hammond in the 1970s BBC serial '' The Brothers''. Life and career Easton was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Mar ...

*Sabine -

Cathy Tyson Catherine Tyson (born 12 June 1965) is an English actress. She won the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film ''Mona Lisa'' (1986), which also earned her Best Supporting Actress no ...

*Scarron -

Brian Parr Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word mea ...

*Second Flagellant -

Philip Barnes Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

*Sonnerie -

Jim Hooper Jim or JIM may refer to: * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy * OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism * ''Jim'' (comics), a series by Jim Woodring * ''Jim' ...

*Third Flagellant -

Tony London Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby lea ...

*Toulon -

Peter Eyre Peter Gervaise Joseph Eyre (born 11 March 1942) is an American-born English actor. Eyre was born in New York City, the son of Dorothy Pelline (née Acton) and Edward Joseph Eyre, a banker. He was sent to a public school in England at the age o ...

*Viennet, Vosques -

James Newall James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

References

* *

External links

{{OlivierAward Play 1976–2000 1985 plays English plays West End plays Laurence Olivier Award-winning plays Black comedy plays