It seemed that it was going to be perennial: it was there. It was still there, luckily for all those -very many- who enjoyed his art, his essence, his legacy in life, his theater. Brook, unavoidable reference of the performing arts; inveterate walker through diverse culturesseeker of that unique note, precise, in tune and exact that illuminates the trajectory and the speech… There it was!
But after a long and fruitful life, he has already left for the country of myths, of geniuses. His serene and enormous look at the human being and the scenic asceticism took him to the “empty space”. Essential book, concept and attitude for anyone who wants to approach the mysteries of theatrical creation. He undertook a journey towards the absence of the superfluous that led him to a presence of the essential, to an ascesis pregnant with truth.
That boy of Lithuanian origin, who at the age of 19 was already standing behind a camera and who would later go through all theatrical genres, arrived -according to his own words- with a certain skeptical excitement to the theater and knew how to turn it into a trip to the “center from the earth”. Yes. “In search of the lost harp.” And he found her, there is no doubt about it. We must thank him, among many other things, for the continuous and enormous moments of pleasure and ecstasy that he has provided to several generations with his shows and with his writingsthat beyond punctual and concrete formulations open with a magnetic key the access to new worlds, new speculations, without proselytism or sterile behaviorism.
Not to mention his teaching as a stage director? More. Much more: conductor of women and men, always searching for the truth in expressive freedom, what is far from convention, surrounding the ritual, everything that is at the bottom of individual and collective attitudes.
If he began influenced by Artaud and the ‘theater of cruelty’ and went through the entire western rainbow, he dedicated the rest of his career to looking for bridges: the East, India, Africa…
I exactly remember the strong impression his filmed version of Marat Jade about his own staging with the Royal Shakespeare Company, or his version of the Carmen of Bizet, theater in its purest form, or I am a phenomenon, either fights, Mahabaratta, Hamlet, Woza Albert!… And so many fascinating proposals. And if he was already very young he was director of the Royal Opera House, if he was a fundamental part of the first and brilliant RSC, if he even ventured into the musical genre signing the stage direction of irma la douce at the Westend and on Broadway, it was his meeting in Paris with Jean Louis Barrault and his intercultural congress, which led him to embark on this new path: the crossroads of cultures, the creation of an international research and creation center looking for ethnic and cultural sources, peculiarities and transversalities and its location in Paris. Thus, if he began influenced by Artaud and the ‘theater of cruelty’ and went through the entire western rainbow, he dedicated the rest of his career to looking for bridges: East, India, Africa…
And of course, he launched into the constant search. How could she not interest him Oliver Jacksas usual shakespeare (paradigmatic Storm) and its great sunset titus andronicusbefore multi-ethnic immersion.
At this point it is essential to mention -among others- two great collaborators: the essential michelle roszansoul and inseparable companion in his Parisian projects, and Jean Guy Lecatformulator of spaces and of that great secular temple that is Les bouffes du nord.
Related news
I did not know him personally. Okay, yes. I was introduced to him on several occasions by my friends Biel Moll Y Angel Dominguez. He was a charming and scrutinizing man, of penetrating conversation as who does not want, and sagacious. But chatting a few times is not enough to say that I “met” the person. Only his personality is glimpsed. I can say that my respect, admiration and “friendship” was forged through his texts, his films and his shows. And those apparently theoretical texts and those shows allow you -and this is something that not all great creators and theorists achieve-, they allow you, I say, always be yourself and find your ways freely, seek and find your own path that leads to your scenic truth, your truth and commitment; a commitment full of questions and uncertainties that the theater poses in a game of mirrors and sincerities, always searching for the human being in all his contradictions.
For everything, thank you teacher.