Tag Archives: Peter Brook

A sad farewell to Peter Brook

The death at the age of 97 of the great theatre director Peter Brook has been announced today, 3 July 2022. He burst on the theatre scene at the age of 20 in 1946, coming from the Birmingham Repertory Theatre … Continue reading

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Sally Jacobs and A Midsummer Night’s Dream after 50 years

When you think of the Peter Brook production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, what springs to mind? Of course, an image of the famous white box set, perhaps with actors swinging on trapezes, Titania’s bower of blood-red feather boas, or … Continue reading

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Memories of Alan Rickman

Another day, another hero gone. On Thursday 14 January 2016 it was announced that actor Alan Rickman had died, just a few days after David Bowie. Both died of cancer, and both were 69. Unlike Bowie, Rickman took some years … Continue reading

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Peter Brook at the V&A

On Saturday I was lucky to be able to attend a symposium at the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled Peter Brook: Place, Process, Performance, Politics. It was part of the Museum’s Performance Festival and this investigation of Brook’s impact on … Continue reading

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Alan Howard: remembering the Dream

Alan Howard, who died on 14 February 2015, came from a family of actors and writers, and following in the family tradition, became the most theatrical of actors. Many have concentrated on the partnership he developed with RSC director Terry Hands … Continue reading

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Remembering Sir Laurence Olivier

Friday 11 July 2014 is the 25th anniversary of Laurence Olivier’s death in 1989. By chance I was in the RST that evening and before the performance artistic director Terry Hands delivered an onstage tribute to Olivier. At the end … Continue reading

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Taking Hamlet around the Globe

Touring has been an essential part of acting life for centuries: Shakespeare is thought to have seen his first plays as a child when a professional touring group came to Stratford-upon-Avon, and we assume he was one of the actors … Continue reading

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Slaughter in the streets: Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus

This post was always going to be about Titus Andronicus. But it was going to be about the designs for the 1955 Shakespeare Memorial Theatre production of the play, put on at a time when it was thought to be … Continue reading

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Peter Brook: from enfant terrible to grand old man of the theatre

Nobody has been more influential in the world of the theatre in the last 70 years than Peter Brook. And at the age of 88, he’s still involved, setting out his ideas about why theatre is so important. Shakespeare has … Continue reading

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Looking back and forward: the Birmingham Rep at 100

I spent Saturday in Birmingham, at the Old Repertory Theatre in Station  Street, which this year celebrates its centenary. A couple of weeks ago I wrote a blog about the history of Barry Jackson’s great theatre. The keynote speech was … Continue reading

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