Practitioner focus: Peter Brook – Part two

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.

Brook's journey took him from ‘using every device known’ on stage to discovering that ‘the human being is richer than the greatest stage effect’. Through putting the human under the microscope Brook unlocked a new exciting world of detail. He believes that ‘acting begins with a tiny inner movement so slight that it is almost completely invisible’, and the director's job is to see the movement and make sense of it for theatrical purpose. This focus has led him to be described as minimalist, yet he firmly rejects this label, ‘I am not a minimalist& I love trying out everything’. His productions have though become increasingly simplified, concentrating on the relationship between the actor, the audience and the playing space.