Peter Brooks

Who is Peter Brooks?

- Director of the Royal Shakespeare company and founder of the International Centre for Creation in Paris.

- Known for breaking down the fourth wall

- Emphasised simplicity and the importance of space and imagination performance

- Brooks approach to using simple elements, like space and movement, to create powerful theatre without relying on elaborate sets or props

- "I can take any empty space and call it bare stage. a man walks across this empty space while someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre"

- his focus on the "empty space", minimalism in design, and the importance of the actor's physical and emotional presence.

Brook's willingness to provoke extends to thoughts on drama theorists, 'I stayed clear of all theories. I hardly read Stanislvasky or Brecht… I read Artaud… I thought his theories were absolutely useless'. He would not want students to become bogged down in words and theories, but want them to practically explore, examine and act.