The Immediate Theatre

Peter Brook’s “The Empty Space”.
Chapter 4, The Immediate Theatre.

STEPHEN ATKINS [Vancouver] The Immediate Theatre is the theatre of the fresh. In this chapter Brook generously positins himself as a fellow “student” of the art. The most valuable thing I have taken from this book, and that I continue to practice years later is a tolerance [...]

The Human Theatre Project

[North Vancouver] Human Theatre Performing Arts Society begins a new project slated for development in 2010. The Human Theatre Project is an online knowledgebase for and about theatre practice in Canada and internationally. Starting with an open source wiki platform and adding online collaborative tools, Human Theatre hopes to create an accessible online resource for [...]

The Rough Theatre

Peter Brook’s “The Empty Space”.
Chapter 3, The Rough Theatre.

STEPHEN ATKINS [Vancouver] Rough Theatre is the theatre of tattered edges, dirt, makeshift and make-do. In direct contrast to the Holy, the Rough gives more validity to down-to-earth crudeness than to the eloquence of prayer (p. 71). Brook reminds us that theatre can exist in an attic [...]

Mastery and Training for the Arts

Kodo: ”Strong Past”.

STEPHEN ATKINS [Vancouver] This month we have been reading Kodo: Ancient Ways, by Kensho Furuya. It is a collection of editorial columns from a martial arts training publication. Furuya is an aikido master and a Zen Buddhist priest centered in Los Angeles. Even though the writings are on the discipline of martial arts, [...]

The Holy Theatre

Peter Brook’s “The Empty Space”.
Chapter 2: The Holy Theatre

STEPHEN ATKINS [Vancouver] Holy Theatre the theatre of the invisible made visible. Brook calls for a theatre that not only offers the possibility of presenting the “invisible” but also the conditions that make its perception possible. He presents four pioneers of the Holy; Merce Cuningham, Samuel [...]

The Deadly Theatre

Peter Brook’s “The Empty Space”.
Chapter 1: The Deadly Theatre.

STEPHEN ATKINS [Vancouver] Reading Brook’s essay on The Deadly Theatre (even re-reading it after several years) is a bit like taking a splash of cold water in the face. The first of the four essays of “The Empty Space” is a wake up call where Brook describes [...]