--- title: The Theater: The Hangman God description: An excitingly talented British playwright, Peter Barnes, 40, has appeared on the transatlantic scene. His first play, The Ruling Class, is having its U.S. premiere in the handsome 500-seat Kreeger... canonical: https://time.com/archive/6838563/the-theater-the-hangman-god/ author: T.E. Kalem article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 1971-02-15T05:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-22T07:14:45.351Z article:section: U.S. og:title: The Theater: The Hangman God og:description: An excitingly talented British playwright, Peter Barnes, 40, has appeared on the transatlantic scene. His first play, The Ruling Class, is having its U.S. premiere in the handsome 500-seat Kreeger... og:url: https://time.com/archive/6838563/the-theater-the-hangman-god/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Theater: The Hangman God twitter:description: An excitingly talented British playwright, Peter Barnes, 40, has appeared on the transatlantic scene. His first play, The Ruling Class, is having its U.S. premiere in the handsome 500-seat Kreeger... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # The Theater: The Hangman God > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with Project Management Institute. 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The organization also produces research and thought leadership on emerging trends, helping professionals stay current with skills in areas like AI, agile practices, and strategic business management. These resources are designed to help professionals at all levels enhance their skills and advance their careers. #### What is the PMBOK® Guide? The PMBOK® Guide, or A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, is PMI’s foundational guide to generally accepted project management knowledge and practice. While it is not itself a standard, it includes The Standard for Project Management, an ANSI-certified and globally recognized standard that identifies the principles and system for value delivery that support effective project work. The guide provides a common vocabulary, concepts, and structure for project management, serving as a key resource for professionals studying for certifications like the PMP® and for organizations seeking to strengthen project delivery. #### How is AI changing project management? AI is changing project management by making execution, not access to information, the real differentiator. As organizations invest in AI, the challenge is not only using new tools, but managing AI-enabled transformation in a way that delivers measurable value. Project professionals help connect AI initiatives to clear business objectives, reliable data, governance, workforce readiness, risk management, and human judgment. 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Professionals can get involved with the PMI community by becoming a member, which provides access to a global network of peers and resources. Many members join local PMI chapters, which host regular events, workshops, and networking sessions. Online, PMI's projectmanagement.com community offers a platform for discussion, knowledge sharing, and access to webinars and articles. Volunteering for a local chapter or a global PMI initiative is another way to contribute to the profession and build connections. #### What is the difference between PMP and CAPM? The PMP (Project Management Professional)® and CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management)® are both certifications offered by PMI, but they target professionals at different career stages. The CAPM is an entry-level certification designed for individuals with little or no project experience, validating their understanding of fundamental project management knowledge and terminology. The PMP is for experienced project managers and requires a combination of formal education and years of documented project leadership experience, making it a more advanced and globally recognized certification. #### How does PMI support social impact? PMI supports social impact by helping individuals, nonprofits, NGOs, and communities use project management to turn purpose into measurable outcomes. Through the PMI Educational Foundation, PMI expands access to project management education for youth worldwide, including underserved and underrepresented populations. Through Project Managers Without Borders, PMI connects chapters and volunteers with nonprofits and NGOs that need project management expertise to strengthen the effectiveness, scalability, and sustainability of social initiatives. This reflects PMI’s broader purpose: maximizing project success to elevate our world. ### Sources * Project Management Institute | [pmi.org](/c/pmi-2026-q3/home?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, "Earning Power: Project Management Salary Survey—Fourteenth Edition" | [pmi.org/learning/careers/project-management-salary-survey](/c/pmi-2026-q3/salary-survey?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, "Global Project Management Talent Gap" | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/global-project-management-talent-gap](/c/pmi-2026-q3/talent-gap?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, "Maximizing Project Success" | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/project-success](/c/pmi-2026-q3/project-success?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, “Pulse Report 2025: Boosting Business Acumen” | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/boosting-business-acumen](/c/pmi-2026-q3/business-acumen?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, “Pulse of the Profession® 2026: Driving Success in Complex Projects” | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/driving-success-in-complex-projects](/c/pmi-2026-q3/complex-projects?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI, “Step Up: Redefining the Path to Project Success with M.O.R.E.” | [pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/path-to-project-success](/c/pmi-2026-q3/more-mindset?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) * PMI Education Foundation, PMIEF 2024 Annual Report, [pmi.org PMIEF 2024 Annual Report (PDF)](/c/pmi-2026-q3/pmief-report?i=214df4cc-dc51-41b0-a86e-b20dfa663009&cr=agentads-creative-pmi-v1) ### FAQ structured data (JSON-LD, optional) by [T.E. Kalem](https://time.com/author/t-e-kalem/) Feb 15, 1971 5:00 AM UTC by [T.E. Kalem](https://time.com/author/t-e-kalem/) Feb 15, 1971 5:00 AM UTC An excitingly talented British playwright, Peter Barnes, 40, has appeared on the transatlantic scene. His first play, The Ruling Class, is having its U.S. premiere in the handsome 500-seat Kreeger Theater that is making its own debut as part of Washington, D.C.’s Arena Stage. Encountering Barnes is somewhat like fencing in a Noel Coward drawing room while seething with the stomach-pit anger of the early John Osborne, and then leaving the room for a short session in the late Joe Orton’s black-comic vomitorium. What remains as the distinguishing mark of Barnes himself? An exuberantly antic disposition, for one thing, plus schoolboy zest and schoolboy humor—which, in the British, seem to last for a lifetime. Perhaps a more significant trait is that he is a painter’s playwright, a man with a gift for bringing images to vivid life on the stage. Consider the prologue. After a hard gray day dispensing law from the bench, the 13th Earl of Gurney likes to indulge in a kinky pick-me-up. He has his valet bring him a step stool and orders him to slip a silk hangman’s noose over a beam of his stately home. The valet departs. The earl strips down to his long underwear, dons a tricornered cocked hat, buckles on a sword, and struggles into a white ballet tutu. He mounts the stool, puts his head in the noose, and steps off. He twitches there, gasping hoarsely, neck muscles bulging red. It is not the end. With a desperate little back jump, his feet regain the stool. The earl’s face is bleary with ecstasy. He speaks in a kind of Nirvana rasp, and we get the full inebriant impact of Barnes’ imagistic powers: “Touched him, saw her, towers of death and silence, angels of fire and ice. Saw Alexander covered with honey and beeswax in his tomb and felt the flowers growing over me. A man must have his visions. How else could an English judge and peer of the realm take moonlight trips to Marrakesh and Ponders End? See six vestal virgins smoking cigars? Moses in bedroom slippers? Naked bosoms floating past Formosa? Desperate diseases need desperate remedies. Just time for a quick one. \[Puts his head back in the noose.\] Be of good cheer, Master Ridley, and play the man. There’s plenty of time to win this game, and thrash the Spaniards too. \[Draws his sword.\] Form squares, men! Smash the Mahdi, and Binnie Barnes!” With a lustful gurgle, he steps off —and inadvertently knocks over the step stool. This time, it is the end for the 13th Earl of Gurney. Mind you, this has occurred in less than five minutes after the curtain has gone up, a sure sign of the revved-up authority of a born playwright. Understandably, Barnes cannot maintain this pace for the rest of the evening, but unlike many new playwrights, he does not suffer from plot anemia. It is impossible to retrace all of the narrative twists and turns, and unsuitable to bare the many surprises of a play that is almost surely destined for wide regional theater performance and, inevitably, a future New York showing. Ruler of the Universe. In barest outline, the play proper concerns itself with two themes. One is a lambasting of the British upper class. This is fast, funny, furious and unrelenting, but it is scarcely fresh, since Osborne began doing it 15 years ago in Look Back in Anger. On a more intriguing level, the work deals with the God of the Old and New Testaments, that is, the ruling order of the universe as apart from, though sometimes ironically similar to, Britain’s ruling class. The young and appealing 14th Earl of Gurney, acted with keenly perceptive skill and presence by Douglas Rain, turns out to be far battier than the 13th earl. He believes that he is God. This irritates the bejesus out of his relatives. They trick him into a marriage to sire a 15th earl, after which they plan to commit the 14th earl to an asylum. But an officious psychiatrist insists that he can cure the 14th earl by confronting him with the “true” God, a mad Scot with his eyes and his rrrrrrrr’s in a fine frenzy rolling. The cure is splendid theater, and it is right out of Pirandello’s Henry IV, where the madman-hero claims he is a medieval emperor and is similarly confronted with “reality.” What about reality, that eternal alter ego of drama? In the first act, dressed and behaving in hippie fashion, the 14th earl is the Jesus figure of the New Testament, the God of love and redemptive grace. He is figuratively crucified. His “cure” takes place on an actual cross. In the second act, he becomes the God of the Old Testament, who rules by law, by the book, by the doctrine of an eye for an eye, a life for a life. To Barnes, this is the law of the gibbet, in which the hangman is the cornerstone of a sound society. This is God as a wrathful Jack the Ripper, and acting as that dominion and that power, the 14th earl disembowels the two women who love him the most. Noose and knife, a circle of doom. Barnes has seamlessly Linked his idea content—law, love, the ruling order and murder—with coruscating imagery. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6838563/the-theater-the-hangman-god/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6838563/the-theater-the-hangman-god/"},"headline":"The Theater: The Hangman God","datePublished":"1971-02-15T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-22T07:14:45.351Z","description":"An excitingly talented British playwright, Peter Barnes, 40, has appeared on the transatlantic scene. 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