Brook, Peter Stephen Paul

views updated

BROOK, PETER STEPHEN PAUL

BROOK, PETER STEPHEN PAUL (1925– ), British theater producer, director, and filmmaker. Born to Russian Jewish immigrants in London, by his early twenties Brook became famous for his avant-garde productions of the plays of such writers as Jean-Paul Sartre and, especially, for his experimental and controversial staging of Shakespeare's plays at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-on-Avon. At the age of only 22, he was also appointed director of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1964 Brook achieved notoriety by staging Peter Weiss's Marat/Sade, with its shocking depictions of sadism. Brook also directed a number of films, including The Lord of the Flies (1963). Among the best-known and most influential theatrical figures of the recent past in Britain, in 1998 Brook was made a Companion of Honour (C.H.); he is the author of an autobiography, Threads of Time: A Memoir (1999).

bibliography:

R. Helfer and G. Loney (eds.), Peter Brook: Oxford to Orghast (1998); A. Hunt and G. Reeves, Peter Brook (1995); J.C. Trewin, Peter Brook: A Biography (1971); M. Kustow, Peter Brook (2005)

[William D. Rubinstein (2nd ed.)]

More From encyclopedia.com