Arena

Episode Synopsis

Robert Wilson is one of the most revered and controversial talents in contemporary theatre. He first came to prominence in the New York avant garde of the 60s and 70s with a series of huge stage works which astonished and often infuriated audiences, but never failed to impress with their invention and sheer visual power. After seeing Wilson's first major work, Deafman Glance, the leading New York drama critic Clive Barnes declared that he had created 'a new non-verbal, post Wagnerian epic theatre.' Tonight, in the first of two Arena programmes, Wilson talks candidly about his formal upbringing in the American mid-west; his job as a teacher of brain-damaged children in Brooklyn - an experience that changed his life - and about the inspiration behind his extraordinary theatre pieces. Including rare footage from Robert Wilson 's personal archive and contributions from collaborators Philip Glass.