Brooke performed in gymnasiums, deserted factories, mines, schools and old gas works in cities around the world.
Brooke performed in gymnasiums, deserted factories, mines, schools and old gas works in cities around the world.
Peter Brook, one of the world’s most innovative theater directors who perfected the art of staging powerful plays in bizarre locations, died at the age of 97, his publisher said on Sunday.
The British director used the world as a growing production on his stage, from challenging versions of Shakespeare to Hindu epic poems through international opera.
Brooke performed in gymnasiums, deserted factories, mines, schools and old gas works in cities around the world.
His 1970 Stratford production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, all in white and with a giant garland swing, secured its place in the annals of theater history.
According to le mondeBrooke – who had been living in France since 1974 – died in Paris on Saturday.
a their publisher’s statement His death was confirmed on Sunday.
Although Brooke was regarded with awe in theatrical circles, she was less well known among the wider public for her refusal to succumb to commercial tastes. He left Britain in 1970 to work in Paris.
He often shunned traditional theatrical buildings for the sake of empty space” that could be replaced by light, words, improvisation, and the sheer power of acting and suggestion.
“I can take any empty space and call it a stage,” he wrote in his 1968 book The Empty Space.
His search for inspiration took him as far away as Africa and Iran and produced a variety of original improvised plays marked by his eye for detail and challenging approach.
Born on 21 March 1925 in London, his father was a director of a company and his mother was a scientist. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 to work in a film studio and then went to Oxford University to earn degrees in English and foreign languages.
In 1970 he relocated from Britain to work in Paris, founding the International Center of Theater Research, which brought together actors and designers of many different nationalities.
Brooke continued to work into her nineties.
“Every form of theater has something in common with going to the doctor. When going out, one should always feel better than getting in the way,” he wrote in his 2017 book ‘Tip of the Tongue’.