Playing by Ear

Peter Brook is one of the world’s best-known theatre directors. Outstanding in a career full of remarkable achievements are his productions of Titus Andronicus (1955) with Laurence Olivier, King Lear (1962) with Paul Scofield, and The Marat/Sade (1964) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1970), both for the Royal Shakespeare Company. Since moving to Paris and establishing the International Centre for Theatre Research in 1970 and the International Centre for Theatre Creation when he opened the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in 1974, he has produced a series of events which push at the boundaries of theatre, such as The Conference of the Birds (1976), The Ik (1975), The Mahabharata (1985) and The Tragedy of Carmen (1981) to name but a few. His films include Lord of the Flies (1963), King Lear (1970), The Mahabharata (1989), Tell Me Lies (restored 2013) and Meetings with Remarkable Men (restored 2017). His hugely influential books, from The Empty Space (1968) to Tip of the Tongue (2017), have been published in many languages throughout the world.