Henry Diggory Warter

Henry de Grey Warter (28 July 1834 – 1 August 1903), better known under the stage name Richard Barker, was a British actor, stage manager and stage director. He stage managed many of Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas and other productions of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, and directed some of them, and in the 1890s directed musicals in New York as well as London.

Early life and career Barker was born in Highgate in London. He was descended from the Warter family of landowners, based in Shropshire with holdings around Pontesbury. His father was Henry de Grey "Diggory" Warter (1807–1884), a solicitor who from the 1860s acquired lands around the Hawley estate and Oaks Manor, and owned Longden Manor, and his mother was Harriett Benbow (1799–1875), daughter of John Benbow. John Wood Warter was his uncle.

His father left substantially all of his estate to Barker's sister, Eliza Mary Warter (1835–1897).

In 1851, aged 16, he was an articled clerk. In 1865 he married the actress and comedienne Marie Cruise (1831–1887) at Plymouth in Devon. In 1868 he played Bertram in Robert the Devil, by W. S. Gilbert.

Director and stage manager Finding that he had no unusual talent for acting, Barker was soon making his way as a director of burlesques and other musical productions. of which he was the lessee from 1879 to 1885.

After his father's death, Barker produced pieces at the Gaiety Theatre, the Opera Comique and the Empire Theatre in London, and stage-managed British provincial tours for Carte. directing a children's version of The Pirates of Penzance in 1884–1885, and The Chieftain (1895).

In New York, he directed nearly three dozen productions, including The Merry Monarch in 1890 (he later directed a British version of the show, The Lucky Star, for D'Oyly Carte, in 1899). His other New York productions included The Lion Tamer and in 1894 The Little Trooper at the Casino Theatre and The Devil's Deputy at Abbey's Theatre. In 1896 at the newly renamed Knickerbocker Theatre (formerly the Abbey), he directed a comic opera called Half a King, and directed The Little Corporal in New York in 1898. Back at the Savoy Theatre in London, he stage managed and co-directed Arthur Sullivan's The Emerald Isle and directed a musical play, The Willow Pattern, for Carte in 1901, followed by Merrie England in 1902.

Death and legacy He died in Kensington at the age of 69 and left his estate, valued at £73, to his widow, Regine.

In Mike Leigh's 1999 film Topsy-Turvy, Barker was played by Sam Kelly.

According to theatre historian Thomas S. Hischak, "In a day when directors of musical [theatre] were little more than traffic managers on stage, Barker had very definite ideas about the movement of actors and the importance of creating an overall visual effect. His work in New York influenced the next generation of American directors and led to a more cohesive staging of musicals."