Peter Brook Retires from Bouffes du Nord???

Legendary director Peter Brook, 83, is reported to be planning his retirement as director of Paris theatre Bouffes du Nord. According to The Times, Brook and co-director Micheline Rosan will step down from their positions in 2010, to be succeeded by Olivier Mantei, director of the Opera-Comique, and theatre entrepreneur Olivier Poubelle.

When Brook began his work at Theatre des Bouffes du Nord in 1974 it was a run-down former music hall and variety theatre. Over the next 34 years, he restyled it as the “ideal theatre space”, during which time both he and the venue established a worldwide reputation for daring theatrical innovation with notable productions including The Conference of the Birds, The Mahabharata and the recent Tierno Bokar.

Brook’s successors Mantei and Poubelle have been part of his team for many years. Mantei is currently responsible for the musical programming at the Bouffes du Nord and Poubelle has worked in some of Paris’ most cutting-edge popular music venues. They will work alongside Brook over the coming two years to ensure the smooth transition of the theatre into the next chapter in its influential history.

When asked what he had learned from his 30 years at the theatre, Brook told the Guardian recently: “Never ask yourself what you have learned … only ask yourself what are the circumstances which are different from last year. In that way, you can apply last year’s lessons. Experience means that the ground is prepared. As in Hamlet‘s last lines, ‘The readiness is all’.”