Peter Brook, one of post-war Britain’s most creative and controversial stage directors, died at 97.
He was born in London, and his stage productions, starring some of the theatre’s most iconic actors, both enthralled and shocked audiences. His career spanned Shakespeare’s plays, Broadway musicals, and cinema, including an adaptation of Lord of the Flies.
According to reports, Brooke, who has lived in France since 1974, died in Paris on Saturday. Peter Stephen Paul Brook was born in west London in March 1925, the son of Jewish immigrants.
He did not have a theatrical background, but his talent was quickly noticed after studying at the University of Oxford.
By his mid-20s, he was the terrifying old Enfant Terrible of the British stage. Over the following decades, Brooke put her stamp on the theatre, breaking many established traditions.
At the age of 20, he was appointed director of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.
He soon moved to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) and then to the Royal Opera House, where, as director of productions in the late 1940s, his work included La Bohme and Salome.
Brooke was later director at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York.