Peter Brook: a life in theatre

Born in 1925, Peter Brook grew up in London and studied at Oxford, where he first made his name as a director. Soon after graduating, he was talent-spotted by the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford and put on a celebrated version of Love's Labour's Lost in 1947. This image dates from that era Photograph: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis

Brook went on to direct many of the era's most exciting productions. This 1958 version of Titus Andronicus – stylised, evocative and almost painfully beautiful – starred Laurence Olivier and his then wife Vivien Leigh Photograph: Pierre Vauthey/Corbis Sygma

Another celebrated Shakespeare staging, King Lear, appeared at Stratford in 1962 and was later made into a movie. It starred Paul Scofield as a rasping, granitic hero whose anger and bitterness drive him to self-destruction Photograph: Ronald Grant Archive

Brook went on to rewrite the rules of British theatre, introducing the work of theorists such as Antonin Artaud and Jerzy Grotowski to English-speaking readers in his book The Empty Space (1968) Photograph: PR

Brook put theory into practice in his 1963 production of Peter Weiss's violent, shocking play Marat/Sade, set in a lunatic asylum lorded over by the Marquis de Sade. In the film version Patrick Magee played the Marquis, with Ian Richardson as Marat Photograph: Corbis

Despite his many UK productions, Brook has always been an internationalist. He set up the multilingual International Centre for Theatre Research with Micheline Rozan in 1970, basing it at a derelict Parisian music hall - the Bouffes du Nord Photograph: Sean Smith/Guardian

One of his most famous productions of this period was The Mahabharata (1985), a nine-hour retelling of the Hindu epic, which debuted in Avignon. It went on to tour the world, and was staged at the Bouffes du Nord two years later Photograph: Julio Donoso/PR

Despite his commitment to alternative forms of theatre, Brook has often returned to Shakespeare. He is depicted here during rehearsals for a multi-ethnic production of The Tempest (1990) Photograph: PR

This version of Hamlet, with Adrian Lester in the lead, was staged in 2000 Photograph: Jean-Pierre Muller/AFP

Brook spoke to the Guardian in 2005. 'I don't like grand terms such as "artistic vision" because I don't believe I have one,' he said. 'For me, the absolute necessity was to work with actors of different cultures and backgrounds and play in front of different audiences' Photograph: Guardian

Although now based primarily in Paris, Brook continues to bring work to London and further afield. This version of the French farce Le Costume appeared at the Young Vic in 2001 Photograph: Donald Cooper

Another Young Vic production, Fragments, brought five Beckett shorts to London audiences in 2007. Belgian comedian Jos Houben was among the cast Photograph: Tristram Kenton

Brook has emphasised that although from 2011 he will hand over the day-to-day running of the Bouffes du Nord to collaborators Olivier Mantei and Olivier Poubelle, this will not be the end. 'I never talked about retirement,' he told the Guardian Photograph: Eamonn McCabe