The Empty Space

The Empty Space is a 1968 book by the British director Peter Brook examining four modes or points of view on theatre: Deadly; Holy; Rough; and Immediate.

The book is based on a series of four lectures endowed by Granada Television and delivered at Manchester, Keele, Hull, and Sheffield Universities in England. The first lecture, on The Deadly Theatre, was delivered on 1 February 1965 at Manchester University. The lecture series helped to fund his long-planned trip to Afghanistan.[1]

The work was considered controversial when first published in 1968 and received mixed reviews. However, it is now widely taught in higher education theatre studies courses.

The Empty Space is defined by Brook as "[A]ny space in which theatre takes place." "I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged".[2]

Empty Space Peter Brook Award

Sam Walters and Auriol Smith receiving the Empty Space Award for the Orange Tree Theatre in 2006

Sasha Regan, Union Theatre, London November 2008

The Empty Space Peter Brook Award was an annual prize awarded to a theatre in recognition of pioneering concepts and innovations in theatre achieved in smaller venues and inventive spaces which receive minimal or no public funding. Award categories included regional theatres and up-and-coming theatre. Winners include the Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, London (2006 and 2015), Unicorn Theatre, London (2014), the Shed at the National Theatre, London (2013), and the Finborough Theatre, London (2012 and 2010). The last award, to The Yard Theatre in London, was made in 2017.[3]