Peter Brook, a visionary stage director, and a true theatre legend, passed away in Paris on July 2 at the age of 97.
He was best known in India, for his nine-hour version of the Mahabharata, with a multi-racial cast, including Mallika Sarabhai playing Draupadi. The production could not travel to India, but a three-hour film based on it, was widely seen and admired by theatre lovers. In 2017, his very austere production, BATTLEFIELD, also based on the Mahabharat, travelled to Mumbai, though ill-health prevented him from accompanying his group.
He started his theatre career in the UK in 1945, where he directed several masterpieces and won many awards, before moving to France in 1970, where he founded the International Centre of Theatre Research.
He was known for often shunning performance venues and staging his plays in unconventional settings.
He also directed films and wrote books that are considered textbooks for theatre makers.
He married actress Natasha Parry in 1951 and they had two children, Irina (now a director) and Simon (now a producer). Parry died in 2015.