British stage director Peter Brook awarded Spanish prize

MADRID – A Spanish foundation has awarded one of the country’s most prestigious awards to British theatre and film director Peter Brook for opening “new horizons in contemporary dramaturgy.”

The jury that awards the Princess of Asturias Awards said Wednesday that the 94-year-old Brook “continues to thrill in an intense way through stage plays of great purity and simplicity.”

Brook came to fame with his staging of “Marat/Sade” in 1964 and his adaptation of the Indian epic poem “Mahabharata” in 1985. He has been based in France for more than four decades,

The 50,000-euro ($56,000) award is the first of eight prizes —also including arts, social sciences and sports — handed out annually by a foundation named for Spanish Crown Princess Leonor.