Veteran Theater and Dance Critic Clive Barnes Dies at 81

Clive Barnes, the British-born theater and dance critic who enjoyed a long career at The New York Times and more recently at the New York Post, died on November 19 in New York, reportedly of cancer. He was 81.

Born in London on May 13, 1927, and educated at Oxford University, Barnes began his career as the drama, music and dance critic for the London Daily Express 1956-1965, and concurrently served as chief dance critic for the Times of London 1961-1965. Invited to join The New York Times as chief dance critic in 1965, he assumed the powerful post as the paper’s chief drama critic in 1967. In 1977, the Times replaced Barnes with Richard Eder as drama critic, asking him to stay on to review dance. Instead, he jumped to the Post, where he continued to review theater alongside Frank Scheck and dance, posting a review as recently as October 31. His final Broadway reviews included a mixed notice for All My Sons and a negative review of A Tale of Two Cities.

A member of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Barnes also served as New York critic for the London weekly newspaper The Stage and wrote a monthly column in Dance magazine. He published books and magazine articles on theater, dance and opera worldwide.