Peter Brook: Why and How

Improvising a Life/ Director Peter Brook’s extraordinary career has spanned theater, opera

And film. In an interview in his office in the Bouffes du Nord Theater, Brooks was quoted, “I think the whole mystery and the whole question of directing can be resolved in the relations between two questions, why and how. In this play there is not any décor at all, Brooks relies solely on his performers skills. And you can reveal it by delicately removing the superstructure. He meets the ghost in the first act alone, and at the end of the play he represents the passing of the flame from Hamlet, not Fortinbras. p 167) Peter Brooks is a modern director who emphasizes his actors and actresses abilities to create a dramatic performance with actions, and expressions as well as words. Another example would be Brook’s version of Hamlet. He likes to produce at the Bouffes du Nord because of the stark décor and intimacy. 10, 2000 p 5L) This is ultimately what Brook’s asks of each individual audience member. In avant-garde, the director usually has more focus on underlying meaning, which Peter Brooks definitely achieves with his bland set. 10, 2000 p 5L) Brooks definitely requests a lot out of his actors, which is probably the main reason why his plays are compelling. In Brook’s production of Alexander Loria’s I am a Phenomenon, he uses bareness in the set to help support the eternal theme of adultery and excessive revenge. These props are so simple, but the artistry is sophisticated.