Peter Brook, visionary director, in conversation with Richard Wolinsky.
Peter Brook is one of the greatest theatrical directors of the twentieth century. Artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company for twenty years from 1962-1982, he transformed how the English speaking world looked at the plays of William Shakespeare. He is perhaps best known, during those years, for his production of “The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade,” also known as “Marat/Sade,” which later became a film and turned Glenda Jackson into an international star. His other films include “Lord of the Flies,” “Meetings with Remarkable Men” and a version of “King Lear” starring Paul Scofield.
His 1985 nine-hour adaptation of the Indian epic Mahabharata is probably his masterpiece. Now, at the age of 92, he and his collaborator Marie Helene Estienne have gone back to the Mahabharata with a short theatrical piece, “Battlefield,” which is playing at ACT’s Geary Theater through May 21st. This interview was recorded on April 24, 2017 in a rehearsal studio in the ACT offices in San Francisco. An extended version of this interview can be found as a Radio Wolinsky podcast.
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