1st Edition

Conference of the Birds The Story of Peter Brook in Africa

By John Heilpern Copyright 2000
    336 Pages
    by Routledge

    338 Pages
    by Routledge

    Conference of the Birds is John Heilpern's true story of an extraordinary journey. In December 1972, the director Peter Brook and an international troupe of actors (Helen Mirren and Yoshi Oida among them) left their Paris base to emerge again in the Sahara desert. It was the start of an 8,500-mile expedition through Africa without precedent in the history of theater. Brook was in search of a new beginning that has since been revealed in all his work--from Conference of the Birds and Carmen to The Mahabharata and beyond. At the heart of John Heilpern's brilliant account of the African experiment is a story that became a search for the miraculous.

    Introduction; Chapter 1 1; Chapter 2 2; Chapter 3 3; Chapter 4 4; Chapter 5 5; Chapter 6 6; Chapter 7 7; Chapter 8 8; Chapter 9 9; Chapter 10 10; Chapter 11 11; Chapter 12 12; Chapter 13 13; Chapter 14 14; Chapter 15 15; Chapter 16 16; Chapter 17 17; Chapter 18 18; Chapter 19 19; Chapter 20 20; Chapter 21 21; Chapter 22 22; Chapter 23 23; Chapter 24 24; Chapter 25 25; Chapter 26 26; epilogue Epilogue;

    Biography

    John Heilpern is Chief Drama Critic for The New York Observer and contributing editor to Vogue. He is the author of How Good is David Mamet, Anyway? also published this season by Routledge (see p. 000).

    "[O]ne of the best theatre books ever written." -- Financial Times
    "Priceless." -- The Financial Times
    "Apart from its interest to theatre specialists, Conference of the Birds is as enthralling a piece of reportage as I have ever read." -- Irving Wardle, The Times (London)
    "The most exciting new book I have read since Robert M. Pirsig's Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." -- Philip Toynbee, The Observer