Brook Peter - Peter Brook: a biography

The Book of US
Tank
One in Four
theatre@risk

First published in Great Britain 2005

This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Copyright by Michael Kustow 2005

The right of Michael Kustow to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Every reasonable effort has been made to contact holders of copyright material reproduced in this book, but if any have inadvertently been overlooked the publishers world be glad to hear from them and to make good in future editions any errors or omissions brought to their attention.

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eISBN: 978-1-4088-5228-6

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To Jane

Beliefs are the rungs of the ladder. We need them, but as we grasp them, something tells us they are not as solid as they seem.

Peter Brook

My thanks of course are to Peter Brook, for giving his time over the past three years to answer searching questions, to free-associate, call up memories, point me to documents and interviewees. At our meetings, he invariably switched right into our work, despite being in the throes of rehearsing a revival of Happy Days and the research and travel for his new theatre piece. This is an authorised biography and I received what would be the equivalent of critical notes to an actor, but notes which rarely felt like constraints, and I would expect no less from as fearless a questioner as he. It was an encouragement, too, to see him visibly becoming more involved in the emotions of the book.

I owe an immense debt to Nina Soufy, Peter Brooks assistant and life-organiser. From her office at the Bouffes du Nord, crammed with scripts, photographs, editions, videos, she was tireless in tracking down crucial elements and chronologies. Even when under the greatest pressure, she always made me feel welcomed and at home, and I realised what a centre she provides for Brooks many-faceted life and work.

I interviewed scores of Brooks associates actors, writers, designers, critics, producers, in England, France, America and I thank them for their memories and vivid insights. Even when their words have not been quoted in the text, their contributions have coloured and influenced it. Special thanks are due to Robert Facey, a friend of Peters since prep school, who, in the Canadian suburb where he now lives, opened up his cache of a lifetimes correspondence with Peter.

A travel fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust enabled me to make such journeys. The tapes of my interviews were faithfully transcribed by Sherry Baines, and Rebecca Pilbeam brought a keen passion for theatre to the later stages of tracking and clearing sources and photographs.

At Bloomsbury, in Bill Swainson I have been blessed with an editor of contained enthusiasm and fierce concentration, who has helped me dig the book out from too many words, and made me feel, as a theatre enthusiast himself, that the book and its subject would matter to those who love theatre and could speak to those who may not. His assistant Sarah Marcus has cheerfully guided the book towards production. Picking my way through narrow book-lined landings above Soho Square has made each trip to Bloomsbury an excitement. Liz Calder has been calmly encouraging.

My agent David Godwins endless enthusiasm and belief sustained me along the way. Simon Callow, John Goodwin and John Barton, former theatre colleagues and friends, have at key points lifted me back into the main current of the book. Their pointed, even their critical comments have been priceless. My French translator Marie-Thrse Weal, working on a text that seemed to shift under her gaze, asked sharp and pertinent questions. David Bradby and Royal Holloway University of London kindly awarded me a fellowship, and Davids interest and knowledge of French theatre has continually refreshed me.

For permission to reprint copyright material the author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the following:

Copyright ( 1998) from Threads of Time by Peter Brook. Reproduced by permission of Methuen Publishing Ltd. Copyright ( 1988) from The Shifting Point by Peter Brook. Reproduced by permission of Methuen Publishing Ltd. Copyright ( 1987) from The Mahabharata by Jean-Claude Carrire, translated by Peter Brook. Reproduced by permission of Methuen Publishing Ltd. Copyright ( 1992) from Peter Brook A Theatrical Casebook by David Williams. Reproduced by permission of Methuen Publishing Ltd. Copyright ( 1972) from Orghast at Persepolis by Anthony Smith. Reproduced by permission of Methuen Publishing Ltd.

Extracts from The Empty Space reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Peter Brook, 1968.

Extracts from Peter Brook Directors in Perspective by Albert Hunt and Geoffrey Reeves Cambridge University Press (1995) reproduced with permission of Cambridge University Press, Albert Hunt and Geoffrey Reeves.

Copyright ( 1990) from Burnt Bridges: A Souvenir of the Swinging Sixties and Beyond by Charles Marowitz. Reproduced by permission of Hodder & Stoughton.

Copyright ( 1991) from Peter Brook and the Mahabharata: Critical Perspectives by David Williams. Reproduced by permission of Routledge/Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.

Copyright ( 1998) from Peter Brook: From Oxford to Orghast eds. Richard Helfer and Glenn Loney. Reproduced by permission of Routledge/Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.

Copyright ( 1977) from Conference of the Birds by John Heilpern. Reproduced by permission of Routledge/Taylor & Francis Books, Inc.

Copyright ( 1968) from US The Book of Royal Shakespeare Theatre Production by Peter Brook et al. Reproduced by permission of Calder Publications Ltd.

Copyright ( 2003) from Conversations with Peter Brook by Margaret Croyden. Reproduced by permission of Faber & Faber Ltd.

All articles from the Guardian and the Observer reprinted with kind permission of Guardian Newspapers Ltd.

All articles from The Times and The Sunday Times reprinted with kind permission of Times Newspapers Ltd.

Extract from Terence Rattigans letter to The Times dated 27 August 1964 included by kind permission of The Sir Terence Rattigan Charitable Trust Copyright agent: Alan Brodie Representation Ltd, 211 Piccadilly, London WlJ 9HFinfo@alanbrodie.com

All articles from the Times Literary Supplement reprinted with kind permission of the Times Literary Supplement.

All articles from the