In "The Empty Space", groundbreaking director Peter Brook
draws on a life in love with the stage to explore the issues facing
any theatrical performance. Here he describes important
developments in theatre from the last century, as well as smaller
scale events, from productions by Stanislavsky to the rise of
Method Acting, from Brecht's revolutionary alienation technique to
the free form Happenings of the 1960s, and from the different
styles of such great Shakespearean actors as John Gielgud and Paul
Scofield to a joyous impromptu performance in the burnt-out shell
of the Hamburg Opera just after the war. Passionate, unconventional
and fascinating, his book shows how theatre defies rules, builds
and shatters illusions and creates lasting memories for its
audiences.