The Empty Space

by Peter Brook

New York, Atheneum, ISBN: 0689705581 (originally published in 1968; since updated)


I was taking an Advanced Acting class in college, and a student was giving a book report. These are
usually rather ho-hum affairs, and I was preparing to become properly glassy-eyed when he suddenly
leaped on a table (a very Gene Kelly-ish thing to do in the middle of a book report) to
talk about Peter Brook's The Empty Space.

I was enthralled and I'll never forget the moment when theatre took shape for me. The year was 1974,
the class was at California State University - Chico, the professor was Dr. Larry Wismer and the student
was Tom Kinnee, son of CSU-C opera professor, Dr. James Kinnee.

I went out immediately, bought the book, and it help guide me through my years toward a graduate degree in theatre.

It's gone through several updated versions since then;
Brook himself says that the text will become outdated as you read it. If you love theater, get it.
Then go jump on a table and "shape the empty space."

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