Peter Brook
| Peter Brook | |
|---|---|
| Peter Stephen Paul Brook | |
| Birthday | |
| Birthplace | Chiswick, west London |
| Occupation | |
Brook, Peter,
1925–, English theatrical director, b. London, grad. Oxford (1943). An innovative, unconventional, and controversial figure, Brook mounts energetic productions in which the entire stage is utilized and realistic sets are banished in favor of bold, abstract, and austere settings. His approach is extremely physical, and he often has his actors sing, play musical instruments, and perform acrobatics. After apprenticing in various repertory companies, he began his long association with what became (1961) the Royal Shakespeare CompanyRoyal Shakespeare Company(RSC), a British repertory theater. The company, established in 1960, was based on the earlier Shakespeare Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon. It is a national theater supported by government funds.
..... Click the link for more information. with his production of Love's Labour's Lost (1946). Subsequent Shakespearean productions included Measure for Measure (1950), Titus Andronicus (1955), King Lear (1962), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970), which was set in a kind of adult playground with trapezes, stilts, and spinning plates. Other Brook productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company included his staging of Peter WeissWeiss, Peter
, 1916–82, German-Swedish dramatist, novelist, film director, and painter. Weiss's early novels Abschied von den Eltern (1961; tr. Leavetaking, 1962) and Fluchtpunkt (1962; tr.
..... Click the link for more information. 's Marat/Sade (1964, Tony Award for best director), a play within a play set in the insane asylum housing the Marquis de Sade that examines both revolution and madness, and US (1966), an attack on U.S. involvement in Vietnam. During the 1960s, Brook's productions were influenced both by the shock tactics of Antonin ArtaudArtaud, Antonin
, 1896–1948, French poet, actor, and director. During the 1920s and 30s he was associated with various experimental theater groups in Paris, and he cofounded the Théâtre Alfred Jarry.
..... Click the link for more information. and the analytical detachment of Bertolt BrechtBrecht, Bertolt
, 1898–1956, German dramatist and poet, b. Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht. His brilliant wit, his outspoken Marxism, and his revolutionary experiments in the theater made Brecht a vital and controversial force in modern drama.
..... Click the link for more information. .
Brook has also directed films, such as Moderato Cantabile (1960), Lord of the Flies (1963), and King Lear (1971); and operas, such as Faust and Eugene Onegin. In the 1970s, he founded the International Center of Theatre Research in Paris, an assembly of actors, dancers, musicians, and other performers of many nationalities. Their most recognized achievement was a nine-hour presentation of the Indian epic The Mahabharata (1985). Since then Brook has created a variety of other theatrical works, including a version of Oliver SacksSacks, Oliver Wolf,
1933–2015, British neurologist and author, b. London, educated at Queen's College, Oxford. In 1960 he moved to the United States, where he continued his medical training.
..... Click the link for more information. 's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1994); a production of Mozart's Don Giovanni (1998); a streamlined Hamlet (2000); Tierno Bokar (2005), based on the life of a West African Sufi in the 1930s; The Grand Inquisitor, a parable adapted from Dostoyevsky (2006); and The Prisoner (2018), a tale of crime and punishment written and directed with Marie-Hélène Estienne. His books on the theater include Empty Space (1969), The Shifting Point (1987), and The Open Door (1995).
Bibliography
See his The Open Door (1993) and his autobiographical Threads of Time (1998); Gregory Boyd, ed., Between Two Silences: Talking with Peter Brook (1999), M. Croyden, Conversations with Peter Brook (2003); biographies by J. C. Trewin (1971), A. Hunt and G. Reeves (1995), and M. Kustow (2005); studies by D. Williams (1988), R. Helfer and G. Loney, ed. (1998), and A. Todd and J.-G. Lecat (2003).
Brook, Peter
Born Mar. 21, 1925, in London. English director.
Brook studied at Oxford University. In 1943 he began his career as a director in London. From 1943 to 1946 he worked at several theaters, including the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. From 1945 to 1965 he put on Shakespeare’s plays at the Memorial Theatre (Stratford-on-Avon). Brook has worked at dramatic theaters in London and Paris, and he has directed operas at Covent Garden (London) and the Metropolitan Opera (New York). Since 1962 he has been one of the directors of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Brook’s productions of Hamlet (1955) and King Lear (1964) were put on in Moscow. His other productions include Shakespeare’s plays Measure for Measure (1950), The Winter’s Tale (1951), and Titus Andronicus (1955) and The Persecution and Murder of Marat … (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, London, 1964). Brook also produced the political revue US, about the war in Vietnam (Royal Shakespeare Theatre, 1966; Brook is one of its authors). Gogol’s The Inspector General (Oldwich Theatre, London, 1966) and Seneca’s Oedipus (National Theatre, 1968) are also among his productions. Brook has made several films.
WORKS
The Empty Space. London, 1968.F. M. KRYMKO