HKAPA

Peter Brook is regarded as one of the most important theatre directors of our time.  A number of his productions are recognized as some of the most innovative works in Theatre.  His practice and reflections influence generations and generations of theatre workers: a theatre which is simple in form but rich in meaning.

Born in London in 1925, he directed his first play there in 1943.  He then went on to direct over 70 productions in London, Paris and New York.  His work with the Royal Shakespeare Company includes Love’s Labour’s Lost (1946), Measure for Measure (1950), Titus Andronicus (1955), King Lear (1962), Marat/Sade (1964), US (1966), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970) and Antony and Cleopatra (1978).

In 1971, he founded the International Centre for Theatre Research in Paris and in 1974, opened its permanent base in the Bouffes du Nord Theatre.  There, he directed Timon of Athens, The Ik, Ubu aux Bouffes, Conference of the Birds, L’Os, The Cherry Orchard, The Mahabharata, Woza Albert!, The Tempest, The Man  Who, Qui est là?, O! les Beaux Jours, Je suis un Phénomène, Le Costume, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Far Away, La Mort de Krishna , Ta Main dans la Mienne, Le Grand Inquisiteur and Tierno Bokar, Sizwe Banzi est Mort, Fragments, Love is my Sin – many of these performing both in French and English.

In opera, he directed La Bohème, Boris Godounov, The Olympians,Salomé and Le Nozze de Figaro at Covent Garden; Faust and Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, La Tragédie de Carmen, Impressions of Pelleas and A Magic Flute at the Bouffes du Nord, Paris and Don Giovanni for the Aix en Provence Festival.

Peter Brook’s autobiography, Threads of Time, was published in 1998 and joins other titles including The Empty Space (1968) – translated into over 15 languages, The Shifting Point (1987), There are No Secrets (1993), Evoking (and Forgetting) Shakespeare (2002), Between Two Silences (2006), Climat de Confiance (2007) and With Grotowski (2009).

His films include Lord of the Flies, Marat/Sade, King Lear, Moderato Cantabile, The Mahabharata and Meetings with Remarkable Men.

Brook’s outstanding achievement has won him some of the most prestigious awards of Europe, amongst which are Companion of Honour, Commander of the British Empire, England; Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres, France ; Order of Sant’Iago da Espada, Portugal.