Der leere Raum

The classic of modern theater literature. No director has influenced modern theater in Western Europe more than Peter Brook, and the traces of his theatrical work can be effortlessly followed into the present. He has persistently resisted the conventional rhetoric of the theater industry and instead emphasized the unpredictability of the theatrical event. "The truth in theater is always on the move," the director wrote 20 years ago in The Empty Space – still a classic of theater literature. Few other books have attained similar significance for theater; it is often referred to as one of the foundational texts on theater. Peter Brook, born in London in 1925 as the second son of Russian emigrants, directed Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus for the first time at the age of 17. After a feature film and productions for various London theaters, he bid farewell to conventional theater in 1970, ended his work as co-director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and founded the Centre International de Recherches Théatrales in Paris. There, he collaborates with artists from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds.