The Empty Space: A Book About the Theatre: Deadly, Holy, Rough, ImmediateA timeless classic on the art of theatre from the most influential stage director of the twentieth century. 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. Passionate, unconventional, and fascinating, The Empty Space shows how theatre defies rules, builds and shatters illusions, and creates lasting memories for its audiences. |
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The Empty Space: A Book About the Theatre: Deadly, Holy, Rough, Immediate Peter Brook Limited preview - 1996 |
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acting action actor playing alienation Artaud artist audience Auschwitz Beckett begin believe Berliner Ensemble Brecht brings called character cinema completely Coriolanus costume critic Deadly Theatre director drama elements Elizabethan theatre emotion event experience face fact feel gesture Grotowski Happening Holy Theatre illusion imitation improvisation inner instant invention invisible Jean Genet Joan Littlewood King Lear language Lear Leontes living theatre look magic Marat/Sade meaning Measure for Measure Merce Cunningham movement natural never night once opera performance Peter Weiss possible problem production rehearsal relation repetition result rhythm ritual role Rough Theatre Royal Shakespeare Theatre scene seems sense Shakespeare silence social sound speaking spectator speech stage Stanislavsky style suddenly talk Theatre of Cruelty theatrical themes thing tion tradition true truth understand verse wanted whole Winter's Tale wish words writing young actor