Conference of the Birds: The Story of Peter Brook in Africa

The now legendary journey began in December, 1972, and lasted a hundred days. It was without precedent in the history of theater. Brook and his international troupe of actors left their base in Paris and disappeared into the heart of the Sahara desert. From there, they began their astonishing journey in search of the miraculous that took them 8,500 miles through the remote villages of Africa until the exhausted expedition came full circle, ending in the desert where it began.
Part theater expedition and experiment, part spiritual search and comedy of errors, Brook's adventure was in essence a search for a new beginning and a completely new form of theater. The actors performed at each village they came to improvising before stunned villagers with whom they shared no common language. The outcome was to have far-reaching implications for the future of theater and a seminal impact on all of Brook's groundbreaking work thereafter - from his ninety-minute Carmen to his seven-hour epic, The Mahabharata.
This classic book is the most penetrating account written about the ideas and personality of the man described as the world's greatest theater director.

John Heilpern is currently drama critic for The New York Observer.