Peter Brook

Peter Stephen Paul Brook (born 1925) is a highly influential British theatrical producer and director.

Related Topics:
1925 - British - Theatrical - Producer - Director

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Born in London, England, United Kingdom, he studied at Westminster School and Oxford, and made his directorial debut in 1945 at Birmingham Rep after being discovered by Barry Jackson. During the 1950s he worked on many productions in Britain, Europe, and the USA, and in 1962 returned to Stratford-upon-Avon to join the newly established Royal Shakespeare Company for which he directed, among other productions, King Lear (1962), Marat/Sade (1964), US (1966), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970). Moving to Paris in 1970 he founded with Micheline Rozan the Centre International de Recherche Théâtrale renamed in 1973 the Centre International de Création Théâtrale, an assembly of actors, dancers, musicians, and other performers of many nationalities, with which he travelled widely in Africa and Asia. Films he has directed include Lord of the Flies (1962), the film version of his own stage production of Marat/Sade (1967), Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979) and Mahabharata (1989). Since then Brook has created a variety of other theatrical works, such as a version of Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1994), a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni (1998), and a streamlined Hamlet (2000).

Related Topics:
London - England - United Kingdom - Westminster School - Oxford - 1945 - Birmingham Rep - Barry Jackson - 1950s - 1962 - Stratford-upon-Avon - Royal Shakespeare Company - King Lear - Marat/Sade - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Paris - 1970 - Centre International de Recherche Théâtrale - 1973 - Lord of the Flies - Meetings with Remarkable Men - Mahabharata - Oliver Sacks - The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Mozart's - Don Giovanni - Hamlet

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Brook's production of Tierno Bokar premiered in Europe in 2004. The play came to America, in partnership with Columbia University, in 2005.

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His work was inspired by the theories of experimental theatre of Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, Meyerhold, the Theatre of Cruelty of Antonin Artaud and the metaphysics of G. I. Gurdjieff.

Related Topics:
Jerzy Grotowski - Bertolt Brecht - Meyerhold - Theatre of Cruelty - Antonin Artaud - Metaphysics - G. I. Gurdjieff

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His books on the theater include Empty Space (1969), The Shifting Point (1987), and The Open Door (1995).

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