Peter Brook 

Born in London in March 1925, Brook was educated at Westminster School, Gresham's Schooland Magdalen College, Oxford. 

Brook was heavily influenced by the work of Antonin Artaud and his idea of Theatre of Cruelty. His main influence, however, was Joan Littlewood. He described her as ''the most galvanising director in mid-20th century Britain.' 

He was also inspired by the theories of experimental theatre practitioners Jerzy Grotowski, Bertolt Brecht, Chris Covics and Vsevolod Meyerhold. His work seems to reflect all these dramatists, but even still pushing the boundaries of 'normal' theatre, testing the relationships between the audience and the performer. 

He directed Dr Faustus, his first production, in 1943 at the Torch Theatre in London, followed at the Chanticleer Theatre in 1945 with a revival of The Infernal Machine. In 1947, he went to Stratford-upon-Avon as assistant director on Romeo and Juliet and Love's Labour's Lost. From 1947 to 1950, he was Director of Productions at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. His work there included a highly controversial staging of Strauss’ Salome with sets by Salvador Dalí and also an effective re-staging of Puccini’s La Boheme using sets dating from 1899. A proliferation of stage and screen work as producer and director followed.

In 1951, Brook married the actress Natasha Parry; the couple have a son and a daughter.

In 1970, with Micheline Rozan, Brook founded the International Centre for Theatre Research, a multinational company of actors, dancers, musicians and others which travelled widely in the Middle East and Africa in the early 1970s. It is now based in Paris at the Bouffes du Nord theatre. In 2008 he made the decision to resign as artistic director of Bouffes du Nord, handing over to Olivier Mantei and Olivier Poubelle in 2008.