The Valley of Astonishment

If we go to the theatre, it’s because we want to be surprised, even amazed. And yet we can only be concerned if we can feel a strong link with ourselves. So, these two opposite elements have to come together – the familiar and the extraordinary.

In ‘The Man Who’, our first adventure into the labyrinths of the brain, we met neurological cases who in the past had been conveniently written off as ‘mad’. Our first surprise was to encounter beings like ourselves, whose condition made their behaviour totally unpredictable. Painful to watch, though often very comic, they were always touching – deeply human.

Today, once again, we are exploring the brain. We will take the spectator into new and unknown territories through people whose secret lives are so intense, so drenched in music, colour, taste, images and memories that they can pass any instant from paradise to hell and back again.
The title “The Valley of Astonishment” is linked to the great Persian poem ‘The Conference of the Birds’ by Farid Al-Din Attar.

We will explore the mountains and the valleys of the brain; as we go forward with our feet firmly on the ground, each step will take us further into the unknown.

Peter Brook – Marie-Hélène Estienne