(Bilde fra V&A Blog)
COLOR BLIND CASTING
Peter Brook 1925 –
(engelsk)
- Regissert sin først profesjonell Shakespeare produksjon når han var 20 år
- I 1962 sammen med Michel Saint-Denis hadde ansvar for en eksperimental prosjekt under Royal Shakespeare Company som var “Theatre of Cruelty”. De satt opp Marat/Sade.
- i 1970 satt han opp A Midsummer Night’s Dream med RSC.
- Etter en innbydelse til Paris fra Jean-Louis Barrault, i 1971 fikk ansvar for “International Center for Theatre Research” i Paris
- Reiste gjennom Africa 1972-1973 med en teppe (følg linken)
- Deltok i Grotowskis ritualistisk “Research University” i 1975 (parateater)
- Satt opp Mahabarata i 1984 – 9 timers spilletid
- Skrev teoriboka The Empty Space i 1968
- Delt teater inn i 4 kategorier: Deadly, Holy, Rough & Immediate
- Kjent for “Color Blind Casting”
Peter Brook hadde ikke lyst å skriv en bok om teater fordi han visst at han ville forandre meningene sine over tid. Han til slutt skrev The Empty Space for å få penger til å reise til Kina for et teaterprosjekt.
Attaining at an early age the status of one of the foremost British directors, Brook directed his first Shakespeare play, King John, in 1945 for the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. He also introduced to England the avant-garde plays of Jean Cocteau (The Infernal Machine, performed 1945) and of Jean-Paul Sartre (Vicious Circle [No Exit], performed 1946; The Respectable Prostitute and Men Without Shadows, both performed 1947). In 1948 and 1949, for the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden in London, he directed several productions, notably Richard Strauss’s opera Salome, with costumes and set designs by Salvador Dalí.
(Kilde: Encylopaedia Britannica)
Brook om bruk av tekst: han trodde at kjernen av gamle historier fantes i teksten – men at det kunne skåres ned til det elementær.
Peter Brook’s guiding idea […] was to make a text that would release whatever inner power this story, in its plainest, bluntest form, still has, and to unearth, if we could, the ritual possibilities within it.
(Kilde: Daniel Wassbort et al. Translation: theory and Practice. Oxford University Press, 2006. Side 524)
Brook describing the physical work the actors did while in Africa: How the physicality of the actors opens the moment.
Guardian interview with Brook (video)
Brook on finding the essential myth in any play, and on how an actor can find truth in an artificial language:
The NYT interview series of videos on various subjects. Wonderful resource!
Muligheter for fordypning og refleksjon:
Beyond Color Blind Casting in today’s cultural climate. Podcast.
What happens when we purposely draw attention to cross-casting? Anna Deavere Smith Storytelling (video).
Se sitat fra Ibsen pris her. Drøft verdier som er implisitt her, i forhold til dagens “identity politics”?
(Kilde: Economic & Political Weekly)