RIP, Peter Brook

Peter Brook, the British-born director, who won Tonys and Emmys, and was conferred the Padma Shri last year has died at 97. He was best known for his theatre work ranging from Broadway’s Marat/Sade and Irma La Douce to experimental productions such as The Mahabarata. Brook’s death was confirmed by his long-time publisher, and later the BBC. He died in Paris, where he lived since the 1970s.

The auteur is best known in India for his production of the French play Le Mahabharata (The Mahabharata), which was based on the Sanskrit epic, by Jean-Claude Carriere. The masterpiece was first staged in 1985 by Brook, who later translated it into English in 1987, in a quarry just outside Avignon in France. The play was nine hours long in performance (11 with intervals) and it toured the world for four years. — IANS