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From The Publisher
For fifty years, Peter Brook's opera, stage, and film productions have held audiences spellbound. His visionary directing has created some of the most influential productions in contemporary theater. Now at the pinnacle of his career, Brook has given us his memoir, a luminous, inspiring work in which he reflects on his artistic fortunes, his idols and teachers, his philosophical path and personal journey. In this autobiography, the man 'The New York Times' has called "the English-speaking world's most eminent director" and 'The London Times' has named "theater's living legend" reveals the myriad sources behind his lifelong passion to find the most expressive way of telling a story. Whether in India's epic "Mahabharata" or a stage adaptation of Oliver Sak's "The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat", South Africa's" Woza Albert" or "The Cherry Orchard", Brook's unique blend of practicality and vision creates unforgettable experiences for audiences worldwide.
From Publisher's Weekly
Stage and film director Brook's soulful, introspective autobiography is as different from the conventional show-biz memoir as his imaginative productions are from traditional commercial theater. Born in 1925, London-raised and Oxford-educated, Brook made his mark in the 1950s and '60s with inventive Shakespeare (a blood-soaked 'Titus Andronicus,' an acrobatic 'Midsummer Night's Dream') and avant-garde European works ('Marat/Sade'). He relates also that he was immersed in the mystical teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff, and in 1971 founded the International Center for Theater Research, which brought together actors from different traditions and countries in an attempt to make theater reach across cultural boundaries and become truly universal. The productions resulting included 'The Mahabharata' and 'The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat' (based on the writings of neurologist Oliver Sacks); Brook's descriptions of how these unusual pieces were collaboratively created are as absorbing as his cogent analyses of earlier working relationships with actors like Paul Scofield and John Gielgud. The director is not an other-worldly metaphysician: he relates his spiritual discoveries very precisely to the insights they gave him about the theater. Instead of personal chit-chat, Brook offers the chronicle of a committed quest. It leaves a moving impression of a man deeply fulfilled both spiritually and artistically.
From Library Journal
From Brook, our most tireless explorer of theatrical performance, comes this memoir, a collection of memory fragments arranged in very loose chronological order. Brook explores how theatrical ideas, spiritual impressions, experiences, and people have created the fabric of his art. His performance work has included traditional Western-scripted classics and deeply religious myth from Persia, Africa, and India, while his spiritual study, following Gurdjieff, has been an exploration of the universal in the concrete, the mystical in the practical world. As Brook is also a traveler, some of the most luminous writing here describes Afghanistan, India, New York, Africa, and Paris. Though he has no formal theatrical training, Brook has reformed our ideas about theater through his energy, discipline, curiosity, and openness to a multicultural/multilinguistic program of study. Required reading.--Thomas E. Luddy, Salem State Coll., MA
[A] rich and absorbing book.... The prurient may be disappointed, as may the vulgarly curious; but the student of the theatre, the student of human nature and those interested in 'something else' not so easily defined will find much matter for reflection.---New York Times Book Review, Anthony Cronin
...[Brook] opens the door, not too wide but enough to offer a revealing self-portrait. . . .the book is less a memoir than an introspective look at an artist's interior journey.---The New York Times, Mel Gussow
The book is elegantly written but ultimately veiled.... American readers who are sick of the soap opera of sensational tell-alls will welcome Brook's civility, [but] others may feel that the details that animate a memoir are too often missing.---Bookforum, John Tytell
When the 18-year-old, self-taught director Peter Brook brought his first play to the London stage he inaugurated a long and illustrious career. Perhaps best known for his London production of the play Marat/Sade and the nine-hour stage epic Mahabharata, Brook also directs film---cite>Lord of the Flies is his best-known movie---and opera. In his uncommon autobiography, he assiduously avoids "personal relationships, indiscretions, indulgences, excesses, names of close friends, private angers" as well as "taboos [and] hang-ups." Instead, Brook focuses on the development of his artistic vision, his philosophical leanings and his quest for meaning in both of these areas. With Threads of Time, Brook proves that he is also a talented writer for he pulls together the strands of his experience and ideas to offer readers an evocative view of his fascinating life.
The New York Times Book Review, Anthony Cronin The prurient may be disappointed, as may the vulgarly curious; but the student of the theater, the student of human nature and those who are interested in "something else" not so easily defined will find much matter for reflection.
The New York Times, Mel Gussow The book is less a memoir than an introspective look at an artist's interior journey. As might be expected from someone who is part shaman, part showman, he artfully chooses his scenes and images, focusing on those moments and those people that have been most consequential.
The Washington Post Book World, Melanie Custer With unflagging verve, Threads of Time presents anecdotes, hilarious or poetic evocations of Brook's childhood, early madcap theater ventures, encounters with eccentric or prophetic characters, and snapshots of travels.... This is far from a showbiz memoir, however. There is no fizz of boasting or gossip....
The Philadelphia Inquirer, Arthur J. Sabatini ...a modest and graceful weaving together of memories from a life in theater and film, the evolution of his directorial processes, and praise for individual actors and collaborators.
The publisher, Cornelia Bessie, 1998.07.06
An extraordinary book by a genius of the theatre.
The English reviews of this book, just published here, are amazing. "He has written wonderfully about all levels of the theatrical process...Brook writes of his spiritual path with honesty, clarity and simplicity"(FinancialTimes") "The muse of the theatre, anchoring author, director, actor and audience in an interlude of grace, seems made for Brook. For a while, it can heal." (New Statesman) "Brook is entirely unafraid of emotions. The book is like his own best productions: spare but resonant, intellectually complex yet accessible,deeply personal yet surrounded by a sense of regal privacy."(The Sunday Times) "Brook can be a descriptive writer of terrific power and sensuous precision" (The Scotsman) "This memoir takes you into the mind of a creative, humanizing thinker. It is a rewarding voyage" (Independant on Sunday) And on it goes, each review is of this calibre. This book is for all the people who kept "The Empty Space" in print for 30 years