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Hsin-chun TuanAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Humanities and Social SciencesNational Chiao Tung University

Peter BrookParents from RussiaBorn in England in 1925Got his B.A. from Oxford UniversitySeveral periods of various theatrical stylesAfter WWII, during the 20 years, Brook made his name in brilliant, but conventional Shakespeare productions

Brooks Theater ExperiencesFrom the Birmingham Repertory TheatreTo the Royal Shakespeare CompanyWas a director of Covent Garden opera and light comedy (such as Ring Around the Moon, Jean Anouilh)Established his own company and theater at the Bouffes du Nord in ParisCreation of his unique theatrical style

The Mahabharata at the home The Bouffes du Nord

Influence of ArtaudThe Theatre and Its DoubleSearch for MythStaging Peter Weiss Marat/SadeJean-Louis Barraults `total theatreGrotowskithe pre-cultural sourcesBarbathe pre-expressive principlesBrook the Third Culture of Link

A pragmatic directorDirected Bizets CarmenSearch for a mythic theatreRestore drama to its primal `rootsRejects naturalism as a style with the Establishment

The Empty SpaceCreate `the poetic stateA transcendent experience of lifeThrough shock effects, cries, incantation, masks, effigies and ritual costumes`arouse sensations of heat and cold`all flooding ones consciousness simultaneously

The Empty SpaceBrooks 4 lectures The Deadly TheatreThe Holy TheatreThe Rough TheatreThe Immediate Theatre

Dada and Artaud`rediscovery of the terror and awesomeness of the original semi-religious theatreDemolish the conventional dramatic valuesParticularly `the Stanislavski ethicReturn to the roots of physical expression

Body Language`beyond psychological implication Beyond monkey-see-monkey-do facsimiles of social behaviourismAvant garde primitivismE.g. Spurt of BloodStylized simplicity and the exploration of basic theatre languageDialogue: extreme rapidity and variations of pitchMixture of symbolic gesture and naturalism

The Screens

The Frenzy of the actingAnimalistic vocal effectsMasks and ritualized rhythmsPowerfully ArtaudianClassics of violence Bchners WozzeckStrindbergs A Dream Play

Myth and RitualBrooks searchProductionsA Midsummer Nights DreamThe Tempest the anarchic and primitive side of human natureKing LearBeckettian and the world `facades and emblemsOedipus

Brooks productionsOrghast-- `plastic soundThe Conference of the BirdsThe Iktheatrical minimalismThe MahabharataReturn to theatre of mythAuthentic Balinese masks and puppets

Part I of Orghast in PerformancePerformed in front of the tomb of Artaxerxes II`Prometheus was bound to the tomb face on a ledge near the topWorries that reciting speeches from Aeschylus The Persians might arouse nationalistic angerExperiments on the improvisation of musical form: sound

Some of Brooks Productions: The Ik, Ubu, The Cherry Orchard

The MahabharataStyle of Oriental shadow theatreNon-western mythologybetween performance and ceremonyTwo Kauravas (from the original 100)Five Pandavas22 actors and 6 musiciansInternational acting troupe

Keep certain Kathakali-like elementsEconomy of visual effect and gestureSymbolic simplicityThe scale and extravagance of the huge storyIncludes supernatural beings

Human LevelBrought myth down to the human levelE.g. Krishna, the godThe elephant-headed god GaneshaMen and gods are interchangeableDivinity is within each of us`The poetical history of mankind

The audienceThis body literally represents the audience to listen to the story.`If you listen carefully, at the end youll be someone else.`I have the same blood. I come from the gods.

The Mahabharata`The age of DestructionForecast of the disastersCaused by western commercialismIn The Mahabharata mankind has to destroy itself in order for the characters to reach Paradise(146).

The MahabharataGlobal destructionAt the price of liberating the spiritPrepared for The Mahabharata for 10 years before it put on the stageThe poets control over his characters

Significance of The MahabharataKrishna murmurs in Arjunas earThe spiritual alternative turns out to be IndefinableA valid test case for a `theatre of mythExplore the basis of theatrical communicationSpectacles: fireLess is morePhoto: Scene of The Exile

Theatrical StylesNon-verbal `poetry of the theatreAnalogous to Barraults ideal of `total theatre1950s staging American plays like Arthur Millers A View from the Bridge (notorious for including a homosexual kiss)Or Tennessee Williams incestually provocative Cat on a Hot Tin RoofInfluenced by Artauds `Theatre of the Cruelty

Antonin Artaud and The Theatre of CrueltyRediscover the primitive ritual function of theatreBalinese dance-drama impressed ArtaudThe instinctive survival of magicReject logic and reasonDevelop a ritual languageRediscover universal physical signs, or `hieroglyphsVerbal expression became incantationThe thematic inversion of good and evil

Antonin ArtaudPrimitivism Ritual Cruelty SpectacleArtaud in many ways our alter egoHe mirrors the disillusion of the 1960s/1970s with conventional forms of society & religionPioneer the experiments with hallucinatory drugsAssociated with fashionable existential uncertaintiesHailed as the father of modern avant garde theaterArtauds work in fact created new forms of expression

The Theatre and Its DoubleIf the (traditional) theatre is the double of life, life is the double of the true theatre. (62)Material existence is seen as an imperfect copy of what art as a higher form of reality symbolically expresses. (62)Theatrical reality is different in kind from ordinary realityAs with the expressionists or surrealists, this reaction against naturalism implies a rejection of the philosophical assumptions of western civilization (65)The therapeutic aim of liberating the natural man instinctive, subconscious, cruel from perverting social repressions (94)

Peter Brook:Searching for MythHe searches for a universal theatre languageBrook became a convert to the avant garde at a relatively late point in his careerE.g. The Conference of Birds

Peter Brooks Marat/Sade

Marat/Sade1964 cooperated with Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC)Brook in the prologue of the book Marat/Sade indicates:(Brechtian) (aesthetic distance) Weiss: illusion and disappearance co-exist

Marat/SadeReinterprets Weisss playEmploys both Brechts epic theater & Alienation effect and Artauds Theatre of CrueltyEstablish the contemporary lives and theatrical atmosphereAchieve the effects of the total theatreLike the Holy theatertherapeutic effectsPerformance techniques of body, sound, voice, cry, scream, etc.Express the characters physical and mental painStrong sound, images, and dramatic situations to convey the breathless tension

Stage Design and Visual Effects in Marat/SadeMake every inch of the stage spaceVisual effects, such as the traps underneath the floorSymbolize (1) bathtub (2) container for killed heads3 paints: hint of blood colorsthe nobles bleed blue blood, the people bleed read blood, and the pale revolutionary hero Marat bleed white blood

Alienation Effect in Marat/SadeBrook: Marat/Sade does not exist before BrechtPeter Weiss used many layers of The Alienation Effect the event of the French Revolution cannot be taken seriously because in this play they are played by the mad persons.Besides, due to their director is Sade, their actions are also problematic

Audience and Performers in Marat/SadeAudiences applause readjust our own statusBrook requires his actors do extreme and even over performance2 performers expressed their pain when they play the roles of Marat and Charlotte Corday

The Tragedy of HamletPerformance style:Like Jerzy Grotowskis the Poor TheaterSimple stage design--Minimalismcushions and Persian carpet at the Bouffes du NordHistorical siteFocus on the performers acting

The Tragedy of HamletQui Est La? Who Is There?The very first line of HamletDeveloped from these fragments to a condensed version of HamletMain actor: Adrian LesterLester also played the part of Rosalind in As You Like Itversatile, marvelous

Combination of Theater TheoriesAccording to Carol Rocamora, Brook explored how the play might have been approached by a number of noted theater theoristIncluding Stanislavsky, Brecht, Meierhold, Artaud and Gordon CraigNot only deconstruction but also reconfigurationWhos there? articulated again by Horatio as the corpses strewn across the stage slowly rise to their way throughIt happens magically, just as Brook intends.

The essentially empty stageOnly a floor coveringWith a few brightly colored cushions and a table or twoDesigned by Chloe ObolenskyAn exposed, crumbling theater wallA familiar instrument standToshi Tsuchitori stands off to the side, a range of primitive instruments at his fingertipsNo props, except a pair of skulls and a bamboo poleBare, spare, elementalA pure, clear, crystalline new chamber play

Performers in HamletPared it down for claritys sakeSays Myers, who doubles deftly as Polonius and the gravediggerHamlet, portrayed by the charismatic young British actor Adrian LesterDressed in black pull-ons and tunicThe lithe, dreadlocked Lester is a supple HamletDazzling in his range from philosophical to physical, from petulant to powerful, from witty to weepy to warrior-likeLesters is the rare Hamlet who is, above all, in control. Of himself and of the play.

Brooks Transnational TroupeBrooks celebrated company of English, Caribbean, Indian and Asian actorsUnderscores the universality of his idea of the third culture of LinkJeffrey Kissoon, who doubles as a stately Claudius and GhostNatasha Parry as a dignified GertrudeShantala Shivalingappa as a delicate OpheliaWith its multinational cast, its minimal mise en scne and textMetatheatrical stylisticsThe Ritual of Hamlet

King LearMetaphor: The cruel humanity and the vanity of lifeRepresents, after the twice world wars, the tired European soulsChoose to interpret by the way of BecketTheater of Absurd In tour performances, they get emotional feedbacks and deep understanding in Europe bleak black & white visuals as well as the sometimes nonsensical editing cues (those random zooms and fades to black)

King LearInfluenced by Jan Kotts criticism King Lear or Endgame in Shakespeare Our ContemporaryVoid, vanity, cruelty, irrationality, absurd humanitycorruption of the present value and the orderDestruction of the worldMechanical stuffs replace God

Stage Design in King LearSimple and bare stageDaggling with a big piece of metal boardWhen the tempest blows, it vibrates the shirking soundAs if the unstable world of King Lear

Characters in King LearIn the interpretation of the charactersUnlike the traditional interpretationLear in the centerRegard every role as an isolate and unique lifeEmphasize and distinguish their different characteristics

Brechtian Style in King LearBertolt Brecht, a famous theater playwrightInvent his theater theory the Epic TheaterCold and objectiveNot be too sentimental toward the mid-endingStill have a hope Tours to Paris, Europe, Russia and AmericaIn particular, East Europe and Russia have much responses to the theme of pain in this production

ConclusionPeter Brook uses Artauds Theater of Cruelty in directing Marat/Sade to explore body and soundMarat/Sade and King Lear employ Brechts the alienation effectBrook uses Brechts ideasmake audience think and do actionBrooks CarmenMyth Theater: simplistic, fateThe MahabharataBrook adapts this Indian epic to do his intercultural performanceHamletBrook adopts Grotowskis the Poor Theater to get rid of everything redundant and focus on the actorsBrook has made his name in theater history

Works CitedBooks and Journal Articles: Aronson, Arnold. Brook. American Avant-garde Theatre: A History. London and New York: Routledge, 2000.Brockett, Oscar. The Essential Theatre. 6th Edition. Texas: Harcourt Brace, 1996.Brockett, Oscar. & Robert J. Ball. The Essential Theatre. 8th Edition. USA: Wadsworth/Thomson, 2004.Counsell, Colin. Peter Brook and Ritual Theater. Signs of Performance. London and New York: Routledge: 1996.Croyden, Margaret. A Certain: An Exclusive Conversation with Peter Brook. American Theatre. May/June 2001. Vol. 18. Issue 5.Friedman, Sonya. Trans. Georges Bizets Carmen. Original French by H. Meilhac and L. Halevy. New Jersey: Park Lane Press, 1996.Hamlet-Metz, Manio. In Review: Festival Round-up. Opera News. Nov. 95. Vol. 60. Issue 5. Inns, Christopher. Myth and Theatre Laboratories: Peter Brook. Avant Garde Theatre. London and New York: Routledge: 1993.O Quinn, Jim. Editors Note. American Theatre. May/June 2001. Vol. 18 Issue 5.Parker, Brian. Ran and the Tragedy of History. University of Toronto Quarterly. Vol. 55. Num. 4.Summer 1986.Rocamora, Carol. A Prince Among Men. Nation. Vol. 272. Issue 7. Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1974.Sontag, Susan. Against Interpretation and Other Essays. New York: Picador, 1966.Todd, Andrew and Lecat, Jean-Guy. The Open Circle: Peter Brooks Theatre Environments. New York: Palgrave,2003.Toward a Theatre of Myth: Brooks Theatre Environment The MahabharataWolf, Matt. Year of the Hamlets. American Theatre. May/June 2001. Vol. 18 Issue 5.. . 2000.. 1999.. . 1998.. .2001.

Multimedia Materials: Film: Peter Brooks Marat/SadeFilm: Peter Brooks La Tragdie de CarmenFilm Peter Brooks The MahabharataFilm: Peter Brooks HamletFilm: Peter Brooks King Lear

Online Resources: http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3DPeter%2BBrook%2527s%2BKing%2BLear%26sm%3DYahoo%2521%2BSearch%26fr%3DFP-tab-img-t%26toggle%3D1%26cop%3D%26ei%3DUTF-8&w=102&h=154&imgurl=www.bardolatry.com%2Fkingle7.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.bardolatry.com%2Fkinglear.htm&size=5.6kB&name=kingle7.jpg&p=Peter+Brook%27s+King+Lear&type=jpeg&no=2&tt=12&ei=UTF-8 Photos from some of the above books and the website

Thanks

Thanks for your listening.