Biography and Autobiography
5 total works
Hailed as "the theatrical event of this century" (Sunday Times), Peter Brook's unique dramatisation of India's great epic poem, The Mahabharata played to ecstatic audiences worldwide. In The Shifting Point, his first book since The Empty Space, Brook assesses the lessons of his pioneering work from his brilliant debut at Stratford and the West End in the 1960s to the triumphant success of The Mahabharata. With the bravura and insight of a great practitioner and explorer he reveals some of the inspiration behind his extraordinary career."The great thing about Brook is that, in a medium where others provide answers, he keeps asking questions. This sage and stimulating book shows that, inside a sophisticated adult mind, lurks the intemperate curiosity of a child; which is the mark of genius." (Michael Billington, Listener)
The theatre's greatest contemporary director tells the story of his life Peter Brook is the modern stage's greatest inventor. For over fifty years he has held audiences spellbound with his critically acclaimed productions. Now he has finally written an account of his life. Born in 1925 in London, at twenty-one Brook became the enfant terrible of British theatre directing major post-war productions of Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon, opera at Covent Garden and new plays in London's West End. He even made films. In 1964 he produced Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade for the RSC and his whole approach to theatre became radicalised. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Brook began exploring the roots of non-Western theatre which once again changed his view of what theatre could be for actors and audiences. His journey took him to Paris where he founded a company at the Bouffes du Nord theatre where he still works today. Brook's biography charts all the stages of his aesthetic and spiritual journey, and touches on all parts of a career that has been widely reported but never previously talked about from his personal perspective." First there was the master conjurer adept at musicals, farces, opera and Shakespeare.
Then there was the philosopher-king...who has devoted his energies to a quest for a theatre that was simple in form and rich in meaning" (Michael Billington)
Then there was the philosopher-king...who has devoted his energies to a quest for a theatre that was simple in form and rich in meaning" (Michael Billington)
The theatre's greatest contemporary director tells the story of his life Peter Brook is the modern stage's greatest inventor. For over fifty years he has held audiences spellbound with his critically acclaimed productions. Now he has finally written an account of his life. Born in 1925 in London, at twenty-one Brook became the enfant terrible of British theatre directing major post-war productions of Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon, opera at Covent Garden and new plays in London's West End. He even made films. In 1964 he produced Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade for the RSC and his whole approach to theatre became radicalised. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s Brook began exploring the roots of non-Western theatre which once again changed his view of what theatre could be for actors and audiences. His journey took him to Paris where he founded a company at the Bouffes du Nord theatre where he still works today. Brook's biography charts all the stages of his aesthetic and spiritual journey, and touches on all parts of a career that has been widely reported but never previously talked about from his personal perspective."
First there was the master conjurer adept at musicals, farces, opera and Shakespeare. Then there was the philosopher-king...who has devoted his energies to a quest for a theatre that was simple in form and rich in meaning" (Michael Billington)
First there was the master conjurer adept at musicals, farces, opera and Shakespeare. Then there was the philosopher-king...who has devoted his energies to a quest for a theatre that was simple in form and rich in meaning" (Michael Billington)
This unusually candid volume of Brook in dialogue provides an uninhibited encounter with contemporary theatre's most influential director The result of twelve hours of spontaneous question and answer sessions, Between Two Silences shows Brook responding to points raised by students and lecturers about his work and ideas. Ranging widely over many topics, he talks about his innovative and award-winning production of The Marat/Sade, his film and stage versions of King Lear, and his nine-hour production of the Indian epic The Mahabharata. With passion and clarity he discusses acting, directing, auditions, film versus the stage, his responses to the work of other theatre figures like Grotowski and Artaud, and the multiculturalism which characterises his most recent work. Between Two Silences offers a rare insight into Brook's beliefs and thoughts on theatre, giving straightforward answers to the often complex questions which his work and writings have raised."Brook is someone prepared to dream, take risks, fail and then try again, succeed and still try again: a genius, and a creative one." Benedict Nightingale, (Times Literary Supplement)
Peter Brook is the most consistently innovative director in Western theatre. In these three essays he returns to the concept of his first book The Empty Space and examines what that means for the life of a production. How can a company establish its own "empty space" - a rehearsal and performance environment which will encourage the actors to abandon the security of the hackneyed and release their true creativity?The potency of Brook's writing lies in his ability invest general truths with fresh vigour and to be as simple as he is profound.