Peter Brook Essay

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Essay Question: Offer a critical analysis of what one of the practitioners you have been studying hold to be the purpose of theatre and identify how this sense of purpose is reflected in their work. You should answer by making reference to productions or performance events and relevant critical opinion. ‘Theatre, like life, is made up of unbroken conflict between impressions and judgements – illusion and disillusion cohabit painfully and are inseparable’ (Williams, D. 1994, pg 61-70Peter Brook, A Theatrical Casebook Suffolk, Methuen) In this essay, I will explore Peter Brook and what he holds to be the purpose of theatre. I will illustrate this, and make reference to some of his directorial works, including William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ and his controversial adaptation of the Sanskrit epic poem ‘The Mahabharata’. Peter Brook is one of the leading directors of the last hundred years. He has directed theatre and film and explored new and old philosophies in the theatre world. Brook has over four decades of work to draw from. He has written many books on his theories and explorations, all of them offering an insight into what he believes is the purpose of theatre. In his book, ‘The Empty Space’, he explores his four different interpretations of theatre. The first, as he calls it, is ‘The Deadly Theatre’. This is the type of theatre everyone is customary with – a proscenium arch, plush seats, bright stage lights, music and an interval so you can get your ice cream. It’s the home of a wide range of theatrical bodies, from amateur dramatic societies to opera. Brook writes about audiences expecting a level of boredom in theatre, ‘just the right degree of boringness is a reassuring guarantee of a worthwhile event’ (Brook, 1990, pg13). This is what Brook sought to avoid. He interprets that ‘The Deadly Theatre’ is an imitation of reality. Brook

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