Peter Stephen Paul Brook (born 21 March 1925) is a British theatre and film director and innovator, and considered one of the most influential and revered directors and theatre theorists. The Right Honourable Peter Leonard Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, PC (born March 3, 1934), is a British politician, a former Conservative Cabinet member, and former member of Parliament for the constituency of Cities of London & Westminster. He is the son of Henry Brooke, Baron Brooke of Cumnor, a... is the 80th day of the year (81st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A theatre director is a principal in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a play by unifying various endeavors and aspects of production. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ...

Life

Born in Chiswick, west London, in 1925.

Influences

His work is inspired by the theories of experimental theatre of Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, Meyerhold, G. I. Gurdjieff and the works of Edward Gordon Craig and Stuart Davis^{[citation needed]} Jerzy Grotowski (11 August 1933 – 14 January 1999) was a Polish theatre director and a leading figure in avant garde theatre of the 20th century. ... Brecht redirects here. ... Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold (born Karl Kazimir Theodor Meyerhold) (1874 - 1940) was a Russian theatrical director, actor and theorist. ... Georges Ivanovich Gurdjieff (Георгий Иванович Гюрджиев, Georgiy Ivanovich Gyurdzhiev (or Gurdjiev); (January 13, 1866? – October 29, 1949), was a Greek-Armenian mystic, a teacher of sacred dances, and a spiritual teacher, most notable for introducing the Fourth Way. ... Edward Henry Gordon Craig (16 January 1872-29 July 1966), usually known as Gordon Craig, was a British actor, producer, director and scenic designer. ... There are two well-known artists named Stuart Davis. ...

Brook was influenced by the work of Antonin Artaud and his ideas for a Theatre of Cruelty. Antonin Artaud Antoine Marie Joseph Artaud, better known as Antonin Artaud (born September 4, 1896, in Marseille; died March 4, 1948 in Paris) was a French playwright, poet, actor and director. ... The Theatre of Cruelty is a concept in Antonin Artauds book Theatre and its Double. ...

In England, at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Peter Brook and Charles Marowitz undertook The Theatre of Cruelty Season in 1964, aiming to explore ways in which Artaud's ideas could be used to find new forms of expression and retrain the performer. The result was a showing of 'works in progress' made up of improvisations and sketches, one of which was the premier of Artaud's The Spurt of Blood

Major productions for the RSC

• 1950 Measure for Measure with John Gielgud (Shakespeare Memorial Theatre)
• 1952 The Winter's Tale with John Gielgud (Shakespeare Memorial Theatre)
• 1958 Titus Andronicus with Laurence Olivier (Shakespeare Memorial Theatre)
• 1962 King Lear with Paul Scofield
• 1964 Marat/Sade
• 1966 US an anti-Vietnam protest play with the The Royal Shakespeare Company, documented in the film Benefit of the Doubt
• 1971 A Midsummer Night's Dream with Ben Kingsley and Patrick Stewart

Claudio and Isabella (1850) by William Holman Hunt Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, written in 1603. ... Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000), known as Sir John Gielgud, was an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Academy Award-winning British theatre and film actor. ... The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a large theatre dedicated to British playwright William Shakespeare in his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon. ... Florizel and Perdita by Charles Robert Leslie. ... Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000), known as Sir John Gielgud, was an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Academy Award-winning British theatre and film actor. ... The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a large theatre dedicated to British playwright William Shakespeare in his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon. ... Title page of the first quarto edition (1594) The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus may be Shakespeares earliest tragedy. ... Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier, OM, (IPA: ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA and four-time Emmy winning English actor, director, and producer. ... The Royal Shakespeare Theatre is a large theatre dedicated to British playwright William Shakespeare in his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon. ... King Lear and the Fool in the Storm by William Dyce (1806-1864) King Lear is a play by William Shakespeare, considered one of his greatest tragedies, based on the legend of King Lear of Britain. ... David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (born 21 January 1922) is a British actor who was born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, England. ... The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, published in 1963, is a play by Peter Weiss, directed both on stage and screen by Peter Brook. ... The Royal Shakespeare Company is a British theatre company, one of the most influential in the country. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Sir Ben Kingsley, CBE, (born December 31, 1943) is a British actor. ... Patrick Stewart OBE (born July 13, 1940) is an Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated English film, television and stage actor. ...

Other major productions

• Hamlet with Paul Scofield
• The Visit with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne
• Marat/Sade
• Oedipus with John Gielgud and Irene Worth
• The Conference of the Birds
• The Ik
• The Mahabharata

Hamlet and Horatio in the cemetery by Eugène Delacroix For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ... David Paul Scofield, CH, CBE (born 21 January 1922) is a British actor who was born in Hurstpierpoint, Sussex, England. ... The Visit is the title of various English translations of Friedrich Dürrenmatts play Der Besuch der alten Dame (literally, The Visit of the Old Lady). It is probably the most well-known of his work, at least in the English-speaking world. ... Alfred Lunt photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1932 Alfred Lunt (August 12, 1892–August 3, 1977) was an American actor. ... Lynn Fontanne (December 6, 1887 – July 30, 1983) was an Emmy Award winning actress who was a major stage star for over 40 years and who with her husband Alfred Lunt was part of the most acclaimed acting team in the history of the American theater. ... The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, published in 1963, is a play by Peter Weiss, directed both on stage and screen by Peter Brook. ... Oedipus with the Sphinx, from an Attic red-figure cylix from the Vatican Museum, ca. ... Sir Arthur John Gielgud, OM, CH (14 April 1904 – 21 May 2000), known as Sir John Gielgud, was an Emmy, Grammy, Tony and Academy Award-winning British theatre and film actor. ... Irene Worth on her recital disc Her Infinite Variety Irene Worth, Honorary CBE, (born Harriet Elizabeth Abrams June 23, 1916 in Fairbury, Nebraska - died March 9, 2002 in New York) was a distinguished stage and screen actress who became one of the leading stars of the English and American theatre. ... The Concourse of the Birds painted by Habib Allah. ... The Mahabharata is a 1989 film version of the Hindu epic, directed by Peter Brook. ...

Films

• 1953, The Beggar's Opera
• 1960, Moderato cantabile (UK title Seven Days... Seven Nights)
• 1963, Lord of the Flies
• 1967, Ride of the Valkyrie
• 1967, Marat/Sade
• 1968, Tell Me Lies
• 1971, King Lear
• 1979, Meetings with Remarkable Men
• 1979, Mesure pour mesure
• 1982, La Cerisaie
• 1983, La Tragédie de Carmen
• 1989, The Mahabharata
• 2002, The Tragedy of Hamlet

Peter Brooks film version of The Beggars Opera was made in 1953 starring Laurence Olivier, Dorothy Tutin, Stanley Holloway and others. ... Lord of the Flies is a 1963 film adaptation of William Goldings novel of the same name. ... The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, published in 1963, is a play by Peter Weiss, directed both on stage and screen by Peter Brook. ... King Lear and the Fool in the Storm by William Dyce (1806-1864) King Lear is a play by William Shakespeare, considered one of his greatest tragedies, based on the legend of King Lear of Britain. ... Meetings with Remarkable Men is the second volume of the All and Everything trilogy written by Greek-Armenian mystic G. I. Gurdjieff, as well as its G. I. Gurdjieffs personal autobiography. ... The Mahabharata is a 1989 film version of the Hindu epic, directed by Peter Brook. ... Hamlet and Horatio in the cemetery by Eugène Delacroix For other uses, see Hamlet (disambiguation). ...

Honors

• Commander of the British Empire, 1965
• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Marat/Sade, 1966
• Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for A Midsummer Night's Dream, 1971
• Companion of Honour, 1998
• Dan David prize, 2005

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by King George V. The Order includes five classes in civil and military divisions; in decreasing order of seniority, these are Knight Grand Cross or Dame Grand Cross (GBE) Knight Commander... The Tony Award for Best Direction has been given since 1947. ... The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade, published in 1963, is a play by Peter Weiss, directed both on stage and screen by Peter Brook. ... The Tony Award for Best Direction has been given since 1947. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Order of the Companions of Honour is a British and Commonwealth Order. ... The Dan David Prize annually gives three $1 million prizes to honor achievements aimed at understanding or affecting the world. ...

Books

• Brook, Peter (1969). The Empty Space. 
• Brook, Peter (1988). The Shifting Point. UK: Methuen Drama. ISBN 0-4136-1280-5. 
• Brook, Peter (1995). The Open Door. 
• Brook, Peter (1998). Evoking Shakespeare. 
• Brook, Peter (1999). Threads of Time: Recollections. 

References

• Peter Brook, Threads of Time (1998)
• Lee Jamieson, Antonin Artaud: From Theory to Practice (Greenwich Exchange: London, 2007) Contains practical exercises on Artaud drawn from Brook's Theatre of Cruelty Season at the RSC. ISBN 978-1-871551-98-3
• John Heilpern, Conference of the Birds: The Story of Peter Brook in Africa, Faber Book Services, 1977, ISBN 0571103723
• Dale Moffitt, Between Two Silences: Talking with Peter Brook (1999)
• Biographies by J. C. Trewin (1971) and A. Hunt and G. Reeves (1995) and Michael Kustow (2005)
• Andrew Todd and Jean-Guy Lecat, The Open Circle: Peter Brook's Theatre Environments (2003)

External links

• Dan David Prize, Dan David Prize laureate 2005
• - Peter Brook official website
• "meetings with remarkable men" - DVD release
• Peter Brook biography and filmography at the BFI's Screenonline
• Peter Brook at the Internet Movie Database