The Empty Space (Penguin Modern Classics)

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In this seminal and iconoclastic book, groundbreaking director and cofounder of the Royal Shakespeare Company Peter Brook draws on a life in love with the stage to explore the issues facing a theatrical performance. He describes important developments in theatre from the last century, as well as smaller scale events, from productions by Stanislavsky to the rise of Method Acting, from Brecht’s revolutionary alienation technique to the free form Happenings of the 1960s, and from the different styles of such great Shakespearean actors as John Gielgud and Paul Scofield to a joyous impromptu performance in the burnt-out shell of the Hamburg Opera just after the war. Along the way, Brook provides theatre-makers with an indispensable guide to creating exhilarating and fresh performances. No real hope in making changes through the theatre, even to Peter Brook’s mindset, and, certainly an excuse for not stopping things like misogyny, racism, the psychiatric regime, through a production, but rather perpetuating ridiculous stereotypes through Peter Weiss Marat/Sade productions. P111, ‘In most regimes, even when written word is free, it is still the stage that is liberated last. Instinctively governments know that the living event could create a dangerous electricity – even if we see this happen all too seldom.’ A timeless classic on the art of theatre from the most influential stage director of the twentieth century. Next comes Rough Theatre. Theatre not necessarily performed in traditional venues, but less formal, truer perhaps to the original spirit, more energised by improvisation. It is contrasted with Holy Theatre in that the former tries to look at hidden motives, while the Rough looks at real events and actions that directly affect the viewer. The Empty Space is a 1968 book by the British director Peter Brook examining four modes or points of view on theatre: Deadly; Holy; Rough; and Immediate.

Giorgetti, Sandra (9 November 2014). "Empty Space... Peter Brook Awards 2014". British Theatre Guide . Retrieved 25 September 2021. A brilliant book ... should be read by the many besides the passionate few to whom it will be required reading' Peter Brook speaks of the theater of the past and the present, of its changes, of its various forms, of what he has seen and sees and of his own work. He speaks with the eloquence, and with the excitement of the explorer finding his way into a vast unknown but, he believes, knowable world… The Empty Space is a brilliantly written, even ecstatic book, full of information of the world’s theater and of this ecstatic book, full of information of the world’s theater and of this leading worker in the theater.” –Herman Shumlin, Chicago Sun-Times I think I read this chap-book manifesto 25 years ago. I know it was talked about a great deal by teachers of drama who got their degrees/ diplomas in the 1970s.Then there is Holy Theatre. This is when, as Mr Brook puts it: it could be called The Theatre of the Invisible-Made-Visible: the notion that the stage is a place where the invisible can appear has a deep hold on our thoughts. It's when we see theatre performed with beauty and with love (which) fires the spirit and gives them a reminder that daily drabness is not necessarily all. Life as it out to be lived, for the moment, or for the value we bring to others. Empty Space… Peter Brook Awards – Winners 2012". Westendtheatre.com. 6 November 2012 . Retrieved 25 September 2021. Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH CBE (b. 1925) is a highly influential British theatrical producer and director. During the 1950s he worked on many productions in Britain, Europe, and the USA, and in 1962 returned to Stratford-upon-Avon to join the newly established Royal Shakespeare Company. Throughout the next the 1960's he directed many ground breaking productions for the RSC before in 1970 forming The International Centre for Theatre Research in Paris. The Empty Space is defined by Brook as "[A]ny space in which theatre takes place." "I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged". [3] Empty Space Peter Brook Award edit Sam Walters and Auriol Smith receiving the Empty Space Award for the Orange Tree Theatre in 2006 Sasha Regan, Union Theatre, London November 2008 If you enjoyed The Empty Space, you might like John Berger's Ways of Seeing, also available in Penguin Modern Classics.

Bowie-Sell, Daisy (31 October 2017). "Peter Brook Empty Space Awards to end as 2017 winners announced". What's On Stage . Retrieved 7 October 2019.In The Empty Space, groundbreaking director Peter Brook draws on a life in love with the stage to explore the issues facing any theatrical performance. Here he describes important developments in theatre from the last century, as well as smaller scale events, from productions by Stanislavsky to the rise of Method Acting, from Brecht's revolutionary alienation technique to the free form Happenings of the 1960s, and from the different styles of such great Shakespearean actors as John Gielgud and Paul Scofield to a joyous impromptu performance in the burnt-out shell of the Hamburg Opera just after the war. Passionate, unconventional and fascinating, his book shows how theatre defies rules, builds and shatters illusions and creates lasting memories for its audiences. This is a brilliant book, and should be read by many besides the passionate few to whom it will be required reading.” –W. A. Darlington, The Daily Telegraph (London) Adapted from a series of four lectures, originally delivered as the first of the Granada Northern Lectures Peter Brook's The Empty Space is an exploration of four aspects of theatre, 'Deadly, Holy, Rough and Immediate', published in Penguin Modern Classics.

It is very much a sales spiel, and, the author admits to making up 'successful productions' that didn't actually happen, when he first started directing theatre. It's on this basis, you've got to regard Peter Brook's enthusiasm and social activism, as spin, and his text, has to be regarded as rather blatantly misogynist, in its male-focused momentum.Having seen Brook's televised "The Tragedy of Hamlet," and his filmed version of "King Lear," not to mention, the idea of his most recent "Love is My Sin," I take his word for what it is: clear thoughts from one perspective of what the theater could be, how it should be, and what is should not be. The parts of the book which I enjoyed without reservation were Brook’s brief but marvelous analyses of Shakespeare’s King Lear and Measure for Measure, two plays of which he has made outstandingly the best production of our day.” –Tyrone Guthrie, The Minneapolis Star Brook, Peter (1968). The Empty Space: A Book About the Theatre: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate. ISBN 978-0-684-82957-9

Empty Space… Peter Brook Awards – Winners 2010". Westendtheatre.com. 2 November 2010 . Retrieved 25 September 2021. Empty Space… Peter Brook Awards – Winners 2013". Westendtheatre.com. 5 November 2013 . Retrieved 25 September 2021. I am most interested in Brook's interpretations of Shakespeare and this book expostulates on the possibilities of what a Shakespearean play could be or how it could be staged, or how it so often, to the chagrin of Brook, falls into the realm of Deadly Theater (gaudy, costumes, overly heightened, etc.) and how to move away from that. Taking Brook on his own terms and then reading Shakespeare will transform your understanding of Shakespeare, at least it did to me. If anyone knows of any other great imaginers of the Bard, please do let me know. It's a book about the current state of theater, written in 1968. As I was born in 1984, the author has literally no knowledge of any performance I have ever seen in my life, nor have I seen any of the performances he describes. So it's hard to relate his opinions about the state of theater to today, not knowing if I agree with his assessment of 1968. p33 relays, 'Outstanding actors, like all real artists, have some mysterious psychic chemistry, half conscious and yet three-quarters hidden, that they themselves may only define as "instinct", "hunch", "voices", that enable them to develop their vision and their art'. This is refreshing to hear, as at least the author is not psychiatrist, recognising such things as 'voices' as a necessary part of artistry. All too often theatre is sprinkled with psychiatrisms, which in many ways are far worse than misogyny.Kustow, Michael (2006). Peter Brook: a biography. London: Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 153. ISBN 0-7475-7913-X.