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32-646: Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH CBE (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre , from 1947 at the Royal Opera House , and from 1962 for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC). With them, he directed the first English-language production in 1964 of Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss , which

64-674: A Laurence Olivier Award , the Japanese Praemium Imperiale , the Prix Italia and the Europe Theatre Prize . In 2021, he was awarded India's Padma Shri . Brook was born on 21 March 1925 in the Bedford Park area of Chiswick , the second son of Simon Brook and his wife Ida (Judelson), both Lithuanian Jewish immigrants from Latvia . The family home was at 27 Fairfax Road, Turnham Green . His elder brother Alexis became

96-463: A New Zealand soprano, was given the award in 2018 and Canadian author Margaret Atwood was given the award in 2019. Sebastian Coe , Baron Coe CH represented the Order at the 2023 Coronation . The insignia of the order is in the form of an oval medallion, surmounted by a royal crown (but, until recently, surmounted by an imperial crown ), and with a rectangular panel within, depicting on it an oak tree,

128-586: A TV film version in 2002. In 2009, he directed a theatrical version of sonnets, Love is my Sin . In 2010, Shakespeare was among the authors for the production Warum warum ( Why Why ), written by Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne after also Antonin Artaud , Edward Gordon Craig , Charles Dullin , Vsevolod Meyerhold and Motokiyo Zeami . In 1989 he was awarded the II Europe Theatre Prize in Taormina , with

160-683: A major contribution to the arts, science, medicine, or government lasting over a long period of time". The first recipients of the order were all decorated for "services in connection with the war " and were listed in The London Gazette . The order consists of the monarch of the Commonwealth realms, who is the Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, and a maximum of 65 members. Additionally, foreigners or Commonwealth citizens from outside

192-535: A psychiatrist and psychotherapist. His first cousin was Valentin Pluchek , chief director of the Moscow Satire Theatre . Brook was educated at Westminster School , Gresham's School , and Magdalen College, Oxford , where he studied languages until 1945. Brook was excused from military service during World War II due to childhood illness. Brook directed Marlowe's Dr Faustus , his first production, in 1943 at

224-541: A reward for outstanding achievements. It was founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire . The order was originally intended to be conferred upon a limited number of persons for whom this special distinction seemed to be the most appropriate form of recognition, constituting an honour dissociated from either the acceptance of title or the classification of merit. It is now described as being "awarded for having

256-635: A shield with the Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom hanging from one branch, and, on the left, a mounted knight in armour. The insignia's blue border bears in gold letters the motto IN ACTION FAITHFUL AND IN HONOUR CLEAR , Alexander Pope 's description (in iambic pentameter ) in his Epistle to Mr Addison of James Craggs the Younger , later used on Craggs's monument in Westminster Abbey . Men wear

288-418: Is that of having been able to use different languages of contemporary scene; in the same way he has been able to unify the variety of languages. Brook's third merit is that of having discovered and given back a bright vitality to some great cultural and theatrical heritages which hitherto had remained distant from us both in space and time. Nevertheless – without any doubt – Brook's noblest and most constant merit

320-464: Is that of having never separated the strictness and finesse of research from the necessity that the result of those ones would have had the audience as their receiver and interlocutor; the audience which is also requested to renew its habits. Companion of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms . It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as

352-959: The Princess of Asturias Foundation , and others. Brook was fascinated with the works of Shakespeare which he produced in England and elsewhere, in films, and adaptation. In 1945, he began with King John , with designer Paul Shelving at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. At the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, he directed Measure for Measure in 1950 and The Winter's Tale in 1952, both with John Gielgud , followed there by Hamlet Prince of Denmark in 1955, with Paul Scofield (Hamlet), Alec Clunes (Claudius), Diana Wynyard (Gertrude), Mary Ure (Ophelia), Ernest Thesiger (Polonius), Richard Johnson (Laertes), Michael David (Horatio), and Richard Pasco (Fortinbras). Titus Andronicus , with Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh ,

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384-401: The Commonwealth realms may be added as honorary members. Members are organised into a single class and are appointed by the monarch of the Commonwealth realms in their capacity as sovereign of the order. While membership of the order confers no title or precedence , those inducted into the order are entitled to use the post-nominal letters CH . Appointments to the order are generally made on

416-515: The Indian epic poem the Mahabharata into a stage play, which was first performed in 1985 and later developed into a televised mini series. In a long article in 1985, The New York Times noted "overwhelming critical acclaim", and that the play "did nothing less than attempt to transform Hindu myth into universalized art, accessible to any culture". However, many post-colonial scholars have challenged

448-615: The Moon at the Ambassadors Theatre , London, in 1949 was an early, much admired production. From 1962, he was director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), together with Peter Hall . With them, he directed the first English-language production in 1964 of Marat/Sade by the German playwright Peter Weiss . It transferred to Broadway in 1965 and won the Tony Award for Best Play , and Brook

480-741: The Stratford-Upon-Avon Festival Company at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre , returning in 1947 to direct Romeo and Juliet . From 1947 to 1950, he was Director of Productions at the Royal Opera House in London. His work there included an effective re-staging of Puccini's La bohème using sets dating from 1899, in 1948, and a highly controversial staging of Salome by Richard Strauss with sets by Salvador Dalí in 1949. A proliferation of stage and screen work as producer and director followed. Howard Richardson's Dark of

512-556: The Torch Theatre in London, followed at the Chanticleer Theatre in 1945 with a revival of Cocteau's The Infernal Machine . He was engaged from 1945 as stage director at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre (BRT). Hired by BRT director Barry Jackson when he was just twenty years old, Jackson described Brook as "the youngest earthquake I've known". In 1946, Brook went to Stratford-upon-Avon to direct Love's Labour's Lost for

544-756: The United Kingdom, seven for Australia, two for New Zealand, and nine for other Commonwealth realms. The quota was adjusted again in 1975 by adding two places to the New Zealand quota and reducing the nine for the other countries to seven. Whilst still able to nominate candidates to the order, the Cabinet of Australia has effectively stopped the allocation of this award to that country's citizens in preference to other Australian honours. The last Australian member, Doug Anthony , former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, died on 20 December 2020. Companions from other Commonwealth realms continue to be appointed, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa ,

576-526: The advice of prime ministers of the Commonwealth realms. For Canadians, the advice to the Sovereign can come from a variety of officials. Originally, the order was limited to 50 ordinary members, but in 1943 it was enlarged to 65, with a quota of 45 members for the United Kingdom , seven for Australia , two each for New Zealand and South Africa , and nine for India , Burma , and the other British colonies . The quota numbers were altered in 1970 to 47 for

608-664: The award more than once, each winning twice. With ten nominations, Neil Simon has been nominated for the award more than any other playwright. August Wilson , with nine nominations, comes in second, followed by Tom Stoppard (eight nominations), Edward Albee (six nominations), Arthur Miller (five nominations), and Martin McDonagh (five nominations). In 1994, Tony Kushner became the first playwright to win consecutive Tony Awards for his two-part Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes . Terrence McNally repeated this feat

640-591: The badge on a neck ribbon (red with golden border threads) and women on a bow at the left shoulder. Tony Award for Best Play Legend : † marks winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama * marks finalists of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama British writer Tom Stoppard has won this award five times, more than any other playwright. Only seven other writers ( Arthur Miller , Terrence McNally , Tony Kushner , Edward Albee , Neil Simon , Yasmina Reza and Peter Shaffer ) have won

672-521: The claim to universalism, accusing the play of orientalism . Gautam Dasgupta wrote that "Brook's Mahabharata falls short of the essential Indianness of the epic by staging predominantly its major incidents and failing to adequately emphasize its coterminous philosophical precepts." In 2015, Brook returned to the world of The Mahabharata with a new Young Vic production, Battlefield , in collaboration with Jean-Claude Carrière and Marie-Hélène Estienne . In 2005, Brook directed Tierno Bokar , based on

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704-549: The early 1970s. It has been based in Paris at the Bouffes du Nord theatre since 1974. The troupe played at immigrant hostels, in villages and in refugee camps, sometimes for people who had never been exposed to theatre. In 2008 he resigned as its artistic director, beginning a three-year handover to Olivier Mantei and Olivier Poubelle  [ fr ] . In the mid-1970s, Brook, with writer Jean-Claude Carrière , began work on adapting

736-752: The film King Lear , again with Scofield, in 1971. He kept producing works by Shakespeare for the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord, in French, including Timon d'Athènes , adaptated by Jean-Claude Carrière , 1974, Mesure pour mesure in 1978 and as a film a year later, La Tempête , adaptated by Carrière, with Sotigui Kouyaté in 1990. He directed The Tragedy of Hamlet , with Adrian Lester (Hamlet), Jeffery Kissoon (Claudius / Ghost), Natasha Parry (Gertrude), Shantala Shivalingappa (Ophelia), Bruce Myers (Polonius), Rohan Siva (Laertes / Guildenstern), Scott Handy (Horatio) and Yoshi Oida (Player King / Rosencrantz) in 2000, followed by

768-400: The following motivation: In the field of world theatre of the second half of our century, the long theoretical and practical work of Peter Brook has – without any doubt – unrivalled merits, which are – broadly speaking – unique. Brook's first merit is that of having always pursued an authentic research outside the sterile 'routine' of what he has defined as 'Deadly Theatre'. Brook's second merit

800-487: The life of the Malian sufi of the same name . The play was adapted for the stage by Marie-Hélène Estienne from a book by Amadou Hampâté Bâ (translated into English as A Spirit of Tolerance: The Inspiring Life of Tierno Bokar ). The book and play detail Bokar's life and message of religious tolerance . Columbia University produced 44 related events, lectures, and workshops that were attended by over 3,200 people throughout

832-465: The performer. The result was a showing of 'works in progress' made up of improvisations and sketches, one of which was the premier of Artaud's The Spurt of Blood . His greatest influence, however, was Joan Littlewood . Brook described her as "the most galvanising director in mid-20th century Britain". Brook's work was also inspired by the theories of experimental theatre of Jerzy Grotowski , Bertolt Brecht , Chris Covics and Vsevolod Meyerhold and by

864-527: The production of Jean Cocteau 's ballet Le Jeune Homme et la Mort which Wakhévitch designed. Brook declared that he "was convinced that this was the designer for whom I had been waiting". In 1971, with Micheline Rozan , Brook founded the International Centre for Theatre Research , a multinational company of actors, dancers, musicians and others, which travelled widely in the Middle East and Africa in

896-627: The run of Tierno Bokar . Panel discussions focused on topics of religious tolerance and Muslim tradition in West Africa. In 1951, Brook married actress Natasha Parry . They had two children: Irina , an actress and director, and Simon , a director. Parry died of a stroke in July 2015, aged 84. Brook died in Paris on 2 July 2022, aged 97. Sources for Brook's productions are held by the Academy of Arts in Berlin,

928-619: The works of Edward Gordon Craig , and Matila Ghyka . Brook considered G. I. Gurdjieff , his spiritual master, but was guarded about Gurdjieff's influence: "This is something so rich that nothing would be more harmful than trying to encapsulate it in a few easy phrases." - Peter Brook Brook collaborated with actors Paul Scofield as Lear, John Gielgud in Measure for Measure , and Glenda Jackson ; designers Georges Wakhévitch and Sally Jacobs ; and writers Ted Hughes and William Golding . Brook first encountered Wakhévitch in London when he saw

960-492: Was named Best Director . In 1966, they presented US , an anti-Vietnam War protest play. Brook was influenced by the work of Antonin Artaud and his ideas for his Theatre of Cruelty . In England, Peter Brook and Charles Marowitz undertook The Theatre of Cruelty Season (1964) at the Royal Shakespeare Company, aiming to explore ways in which Artaud's ideas could be used to find new forms of expression and retrain

992-653: Was played there the same year, and also on a European tour in 1957. Brooks's 1953 staging of King Lear , for the American TV show Omnibus , starred Orson Welles in Welles's first-ever television production. His first work for the Royal Shakespeare Company was in 1962 King Lear , with Paul Scofield. He created a legendary version of A Midsummer Night's Dream , with designer Sally Jacobs (designer), John Kane (Puck), Frances de la Tour (Helena), Ben Kingsley (Demetrius) and Patrick Stewart (Snout) in 1970. He directed

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1024-563: Was transferred to Broadway in 1965 and won the Tony Award for Best Play , and Brook was named Best Director . He also directed films such as an iconic version of Lord of the Flies in 1963. Brook was based in France from the early 1970s, where he founded an international theatre company, playing in developing countries, in an approach of great simplicity. He was often referred to as "our greatest living theatre director". He won multiple Emmy Awards ,

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