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Theatre de Complicite

THEATRE DE COMPLICITE

  (1983 - )
Nationality:    British
email:    n/a     Website:    Click here

Literary Agent:    n/a

Founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden and Marcello Magni, Complicite is a constantly evolving ensemble of performers and collaborators, now led by Artistic Director Simon McBurney

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below is a list of Theatre de Complicite's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Anything For A Quiet Life         Beware Of Pity         Disappearing Number         Encounter, The         Evening With Complicite, An         Food of Love         Help! I'm Alive         Hudsucker Proxy, The         Light         Like Mother, Like Daughter         Lionboy         Minute Too Late, A         Miss Donnithorne's . . .         Mnemonic         More Bigger Snacks Now         Please Please Please         Put It On Your Head         Shun-Kin         Street of Crocodiles, The         What Is All This Dancing?

Anything For A Quiet Life

Synopsis:
the scene set is an office of sorts where clerks and executives alike are trapped in an hilarious nightmare world of aborted meetings, broken air conditioning, thwarted clandestine affairs and hierarchical games of pass the buck.. As the building collapses so do those within it until anarchy and desperate euphoria sweep the workers into a cringe making office party among the debris of the board room.
- Paula Webb, What's On

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  5            Other:  -

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Beware Of Pity

Synopsis:
Ungeduld des Herzens / Beware of Pity published in 1939, is a tense and claustrophobic account of a young mans slide into a terrible situation, and his inability to extricate himself from it. Its a devastating depiction of honour, love and betrayal, realised against the background of the disintegration of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the rise of anti-Semitism. Simon McBurney's production will be in German and features the Schaubuhnes ensemble of actors. Young soldier Hofmiller is invited to Baron Kekesfalvas castle. The soirée is a success: Hofmiller manages to entertain with one amusing anecdote after another. Inebriated by his accomplishment, he asks Edith, the hosts daughter, for a dance. But Edith blanches. Hofmiller recognises he has committed a faux pas, but only when the girl9s cousin explains that Edith is paralised does he comprehend the extent of his offence and flees the castle. The following morning he sends flowers and Edith retaliates with an invitation to tea. Soon, Hofmiller is a daily guest at the castle, not noticing that the mentally fragile Edith has fallen desperately in love with him. When Hofmiller understands the truth, he proposes marriage, but once Edith realises that this has only happened out of pity, her initial delight mutates into a despairing rage

Notes:
by Stefan Zweig In a version by Simon McBurney, James Yeatman, Maja Zade and Complicite

1st Produced:
Schaubuhne, Berlin     Feb 2016

Organisations:
Theatre de Complicite

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Disappearing Number

Disappearing Number
A Disappearing Number takes as its starting point the story of one of the most mysterious and romantic mathematical collaborations of all time. Simultaneously a narrative and an enquiry, the production crosses three continents and several histories, to weave a provocative theatrical pattern about our relentless compulsion to understand. A man mourns the loss of his lover, a mathematician mourns her own fate. A businessman travels from Los Angeles to Chennai pursuing the future; a physicist in CERN looks for it too. the mathematician GHHardy seeks to comprehend the ideas of the genius Srinivasa Ramanujan in the chilly English surroundings of Cambridge during the First World War. Ramanujan looks to create some of the most complex mathematical patterns of all time. Threaded through this pattern of stories and ideas are questions. About mathematics and beauty; imagination and the nature of infinity; about what is continuous and what permanent; how we are attached to the past and how we affect the future; how we create and how we love.

Notes:
devised by Complicite And Simon McBurney

1st Produced:

Organisations:
BITE:07

1st Published:
Oberon Books, London >>>, 2008   978-1840028300

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  9 performers

Further Reference:
-

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Encounter, The

Encounter, The
. . .my hand, groping around the universe, has torn a corner open. . .why did I tear the corner open, if I'm not prepared for the encounter? Twenty years ago Simon McBurney was given a book. Written by a Romanian who escaped the Ceausescu regime to reinvent himself as a Los Angeles screenwriter, the book, Amazon Beaming, tells the story of photographer Loren McIntyre, who, in 1969, found himself lost amongst the remote people of the Javari Valley, on the border between Brazil and Peru. It was an encounter that changed his life: bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus. Taking Petru Popescu's account of McIntyre's journey as its compass and using binaural technology to build an intimate and shifting world of sound, Complicite's new production is a set of encounters with nature, with time, and with our own consciousness.

Notes:
written by Simon McBurney Inspired by the book, Amazon Beaming, by Petru Popescu

1st Produced:
Edinburgh International Conference Centre, Edinburgh International Festival     08 Aug 2015

Organisations:
Theatre de Complicite

1st Published:

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
adaptation 120 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Evening With Complicite, An

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
London International Mime Festival. The first Festival took place at The Cockpit Theatre and Arts Centre, London NW8, in January 1977. In that year the event was called The Cockpit Festival of Mime and Visual Theatre. It is now the longest running festival of its kind in the world. With the exceptions of 1983 and 1986, the Festival has taken place each year, featuring, in addition to workshops, films, debates and special events, performances by the following artists and companies.

1st Produced:
Q Elizabeth Hall, London     1990

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Food of Love

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Help! I'm Alive

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

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Hudsucker Proxy, The

Synopsis:
The play charts the fate of everyman Norville Barnes, a naive business graduate who take on the might of the Hudsucker Industries as part of a stock scam. This is a madcap, high-octane story captures perfectly the everyday battle between worker bee and top brass which is played out en masse in offices across the land.

Notes:
adapted by Simon Dormandy. Based on the Warner Brothers film, The Hudsucker Proxy written by Ethan Cohen & Joel Cohen and Sam Raimi.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Theatre de Complicite

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Light

Synopsis:
A man leaves his village to look for love - he returns with a rabbit that has a deadly disease

Notes:
Original Playwright - Torgny Lindren

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Oberon Books, 2000   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Translation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Like Mother, Like Daughter

Synopsis:
If you could ask your mother one question about her life, what would it be? What is the most important thing a mother can pass on to her daughter? Created and performed by mothers and daughters from different religions, Like Mother, Like Daughter is a conversation about the traditions we inherit and what we pass on. Join us at the table - and don't forget your mother

Notes:
Like Mother, Like Daughter is a collaboration between Complicite Creative Learning, London, and Why Not Theatre, Toronto. It was originally created with OFFTA, Montreal.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Complicite Creative Learning

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Lionboy

Lionboy
Inspired by Zizou Corder's bestselling trilogy, Lionboy tells the story of eleven-year old Charlie Ashanti. He's a perfectly normal boy, except for one thing: he can speak to cats. When Charlie's parents are kidnapped, he sets off on a rescue mission - with a little help from a floating circus and its pride of performing lions.

Notes:
adapted from the book by Zizou Corder by Marcelo Dos Santos

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Nick Hern Books, London   978-1848424760

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  4            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Minute Too Late, A

Synopsis:
Disproving Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost, the three performers prove that it's perfectly possible to move wild laughter in the throat of death. - Billington, Guardian

Notes:
Devised by Jozef Houben, Simon McBurney & Marcello Magni with Annabel Arden

1st Produced:
ICA, London >>>     1985

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Miss Donnithorne's . . .

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Mnemonic

Synopsis:
An exploration of the subjects of memory and time. A man alone in his London flat, unable to sleep searches in his memory. Or does he imagine? In 1991 tourists descending a 3000 metre peak discover a shrivelled, naked body emerging from the ice. How old is it? Why is it wearing a strange grass filled shoe?

Notes:
Conceived by Simon McBurney. Originally devised by Katrin Cartlidge, Richard Katz, Simon McBurnly, Tim McMullan, Stefan Metz, Kostas Philippoglou, Catherine Schaub Abkarian.

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Theatre de Complicite

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
Devised Piece

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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More Bigger Snacks Now

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
devised with Neil Bartlett

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Please Please Please

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
ICA, London >>>     1986

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Put It On Your Head

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Shun-Kin

Synopsis:
Shun-kin is a haunting tale of love, as unconventional to Western eyes and ears in the telling as the mythical quality of the underlying story. Simon McBurney and Complicite have attempted to give the two-hour performance a feel that enhances a stage version of two works written by Jun'ichiro Tanizaki in 1933 A Portrait of Shunkin and In Praise of Shadows, both set in 19th Century Japan.
- Philip Fisher, British theatre Guide

Notes:
By Simon McBurney And Complicite, based on the writings of Jun'ichiro Tanizaki

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  ten performers

Further Reference:
-

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Street of Crocodiles, The

Synopsis:
The play was based on the semi-autobiographical stories of the Polish writer Bruno Schulz and revolves round his childhood in south east Poland, and the eccentricities of his family, particularly his father. The company devised a show that was neither a straight reporting of Schulz's short life, nor a straight dramatisation of his writing, but an evocation of both. The fantastical, surreal and poetic elements of Schulz's writing were theatricalised. The way in which events could spiral off into unreality gave the production a dreamlike (even nightmarish) quality. Director Simon McBurney explained how the rehearsal process involved trying different ways of retelling Schulz's stories, sometimes using just words, sometimes using none at all, sometimes mixing languages or using rhythm and music in place of text.

Notes:
based on the semi-autobiographical stories of the Polish writer Bruno Schulz (1934). Adaptation by Simon McBurney and Mark Wheatley

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Theatre de Complicite

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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What Is All This Dancing?

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Albany Empire, London     1988

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   -

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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