the empty space: a book about the theatre: deadly, holy, rough, immediate

Describing the personal stories underlying productions by Shimon Finkel, Joseph Zur, Joshua Sobol, and Doron Tavory, this original research offers insight into over forty years of Israeli history and its changing relationships with Germany and Austria. Through personal interviews, hitherto inaccessible archive material, and the study of a broad range of documents and articles, it presents a fascinating overview of the reception of 'Nathan the Wise' in Israel.

According to the Israeli theatre scholar Gad Kaynar, ?there is hardly anything more absurd than to speak about the reception of Lessing in Israel,? (Lessing Yearbook 2000).

Passionate, unconventional, and fascinating, this book shows how theatre defies rules, builds and shatters illusions, and creates lasting memories for its audiences.Written on the eve of the French Revolution, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing's dramatic poem 'Nathan the Wise' became a paradigm for modern Jewish identity in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Germany and Eastern Europe. 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. From director and cofounder of the Royal Shakespeare Company Peter Brook, The Empty Space is a timeless analysis of theatre from the most influential stage director of the twentieth century.Īs relevant as when it was first published in 1968, groundbreaking director and cofounder of the Royal Shakespeare Company Peter Brook draws on a life in love with the stage to explore the issues facing a theatrical performance-of any scale.

The empty space: a book about the theatre: deadly, holy, rough, immediate