Beckett by Brook or theatre uplifted by abusive fidelity1
This article considers Samuel Beckett through the lens of theatre director Peter Brook. More specifically, it looks at the ways in which Brook engages with Beckett, both in his theoretical writings, and in his stage productions. What becomes apparent is not only that Brook highly values Beckett pers...
Saved in:
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Liverpool University Press
2020-06-01
|
| Series: | Francosphères |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/franc.2020.5 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | This article considers Samuel Beckett through the lens of theatre director Peter Brook. More specifically, it looks at the ways in which Brook engages with Beckett, both in his theoretical writings, and in his stage productions. What becomes apparent is not only that Brook highly values Beckett personally, but that he is especially taken with his dramaturgy, the particular quality of which lies, in Brook’s eyes, in its capacity to rid itself of all superfluous trappings to express what is essential. Brook’s admiration does not, however, lead him to direct Oh les beaux jours (1995), Glückliche Tage (2003), and Fragments (2006, 2015) in a faithfully subservient manner, but rather to adopt a pragmatic approach to staging these texts, akin to what, in translation studies, is referred to as ‘abusive fidelity’, and which consists in moving away from the precise stage directions in order to find new means of expressing what is at stake in the plays. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2046-3820 2046-3839 |