Irina Brook (born 5 April 1962) is a Franco-British stage director, producer, and actress. She was named
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
in 2002 by the French Ministry of Culture. In May 2017 Brook was upgraded to Officier de l'ordre des Arts et Lettres and awarded the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
.
Personal life
Brook was born in Paris to film and theatre director
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook (21 March 1925 – 2 July 2022) was an English theatre and film director. He worked first in England, from 1945 at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, from 1947 at the Royal Opera House, and from 1962 for the Royal Sha ...
and actress Natasha Parry and grew up between England and France. Her family is of
Lithuanian Jewish
Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent ...
descent. She was educated at
Bedales School
Bedales School is a co-educational, boarding and day independent school in the village of Steep, near the market town of Petersfield in Hampshire, England. It was founded in 1893 by John Haden Badley in reaction to the limitations of con ...
and went to New York City to study drama with
Stella Adler
Stella Adler (February 10, 1901 – December 21, 1992) was an American actress and acting teacher. ''
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...
shows, including the lead in ''Irish Coffee''. She returned to Paris to act in her father's production of ''
The Cherry Orchard
''The Cherry Orchard'' (russian: Вишнёвый сад, translit=Vishnyovyi sad) is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate editio ...
'' followed by
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...
's ''
Dom Juan
''Dom Juan ou le Festin de pierre'' ("Don Juan or The Feast of the Stone tatue) is a five-act 1665 comedy by Molière based upon the Spanish legend of Don Juan Tenorio. The aristocrat Dom Juan is a rake who seduces, marries, and abandons Elvira ...
'' at the Bouffes du Nord. She then moved to London, where she appeared in films, TV (including an episode of Bergerac 'My Friend Charlie' in 1990) and theatre productions. Her film roles include '' The Girl in the Picture'' (1985), ''
Underworld
The underworld, also known as the netherworld or hell, is the supernatural world of the dead in various religious traditions and myths, located below the world of the living. Chthonic is the technical adjective for things of the underwo ...
'' (1985), ''
Captive
Captive or Captives may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Captive'' (1980 film), a sci-fi film, starring Cameron Mitchell and David Ladd
* ''Captive'' (1986 film), a British-French film starring Oliver Reed
* ''Captive'' (1991 ...
'' (1986), '' Maschenka'' (1987) and '' The Fool'' (1990). She also appeared as Michelle Réage in a 1989 episode of the British TV series ''
Inspector Morse
Detective Chief Inspector Endeavour Morse, GM, is the eponymous fictional character in the series of detective novels by British author Colin Dexter. On television, he appears in the 33-episode drama series '' Inspector Morse'' (1987–2000), ...
.''
In 1996, Brook directed and produced her first show, ''Beast on the Moon'' by Richard Kalinoski, at the
Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre ("BAC") is a performance space specialising in theatre productions. Located near Clapham Junction railway station in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, it was formerly Battersea Town Hall. It is a Grade II* ...
, London. She also directed ''Madame Klein'' by Nicholas Wright (Watford) and Shakespeare's '' All's Well That Ends Well'' (Oxford). In 1998, she directed the French version of ''Beast on the Moon'' at the Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne and Bobigny, Paris. After several national and international tours, the show returned for a six-month sell-out at the Theâtre de l'Oeuvre, Paris, where it won five Molière theatre awards, including best director and best show. Brook also directed a television version of the play, for which she was awarded the prix Mitrani at the International Festival of Audiovisual Programs (FIPA), a film festival in Biarritz.
Brooks premiered a new American play, ''Resonance'' (''Morphic Resonance''), by Katherine Burger, at the Theâtre de l'Atelier, for which she also received a Molière award and the
Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques
SACD, founded as Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques ( en, Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers) on 7 March 1829, is a French collecting society, undertaking collective rights management for authors. The Society manages, promotes ...
award for new talent.
Brook produced a version of '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' for six men, which was first produced by the Festival Dedans-Dehors, Brétigny-sur-Orge, and performed outdoors in France and Switzerland. The show toured Europe and Canada afterwards.
She was Director-in-Residence at Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts and currently working on a new production of the British classic ''Toad of Toad Hall''. In 2012, she produced '' The Tempest'' by
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...
.
Renaming her company ''Irina’s Dreamtheâtrè'', she was invited to the Spoleto Festival in 2013 with a new creation: ''La Trilogie des Îles'' (The Islands Trilogy), consisting of ''Odyssey'', ''The Tempest'' and ''Island of Slaves'' by
Pierre de Marivaux
Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux (4 February 1688 – 12 February 1763), commonly referred to as Marivaux, was a French playwright and novelist.
He is considered one of the most important French playwrights of the 18th century, writing nume ...
. She and her company were awarded the Air France prize for innovative staging.
Brook became the artistic director of the Théatre National de Nice (TNN) in January 2014. There she directed a production of the ''Odyssey'' in June 2014 across gardens and museums in Nice, then in the TNN theatre, a production of ''Peer Gynt'' in September 2014 (shown at the Barbican Centre, London, that October).
She ended her tenure at TNN with a production of ''Romeo and Juliet'' starring her daughter Maïa Jemmett.
Brook directed the opera ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...
'' for the Dutch Reisopera, co-directed by her partner, Dan Jemmett.