Peter Brook dead: Legendary theatre director dies aged 97

Bill McLoughlin
·1 min read
Peter Brook has died at the age of 97 (AFP via Getty Images)
Peter Brook has died at the age of 97 (AFP via Getty Images)

Legendary theatre director Peter Brook has died at the age of 97.

Brook was best known for his production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which was performed in a white cube.

He also directed British acting greats, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Paul Scofield in other blockbusting Shakespeare productions.

Born in London in 1925, at the age of seven, he performed a four-hour version of Hamlet for his parents.

Downton Abbey actor, Peter Egan paid tribute to the theatre director, saying: “A giant, a genius and the greatest theatre director has gone.”

He later attended Magdalen College, Oxford, and then directed the opera, Salome at the Royal Opera House.

Other notable production included his directing Olivier as Titus Andronicus and Scofield in his 1962 King Lear performance.

In 1970, he also directed Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ben Kingsley in his 1970 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He then went to Paris to establish the now famous Bouffes du Nord theatre.

He married Natasha Parry in 1951, with the pair welcoming two children, Irina and Simon. His wife died of a stroke in 2015.

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