Simon McBurney / Complicite
To the question, “Why did you choose the theatre?”, Simon McBurney replies that it is the most effective means he has found for asking himself questions about what he doesn't understand – whether in life, in human behaviour, the functionings of the mind, the progress of history (or even sometimes of prehistory) in society and politics. His continuing passion for the theatre seems linked too, to its mystery and the energy that it demands. A master story teller, in the theatre of Simon McBurney nothing is 'off limits'. Whilst being a painter of extraordinary stage imagery, what is most powerful on his stage is a sense of intimate humanity. For Simon McBurney, theatre must be human, alive, in movement, never repetitive nor smelling of the museum. It has to be a meeting point between traditional stage means and sophisticated new technologies, giving rise to a polyphony, combining words, images, music, ideas and stories, at the same time leaving the actors a wonderfully wide freedom of action, and all, finally, in service of the text, the story and the creation of an emotional power that can only be released by theatre.
His productions with his company Complicite are sometimes based on texts which he writes himself, or adapted from other writers, such as Bruno Schulz (The Street of Crocodiles), John Berger (The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol), Haruki Murakami (The Elephant Vanishes), Junichiro Tanizaki (Shunkin – which won the prize of best foreign production, Paris 2010), or on classical which he shakes up and revitalises (The Winter's Tale avec Complicite en 1992, The Caucasian Chalk Circle created at the National Theatre of London in 1997, and The Chairs by Ionesco presented in 1998 in the West End of London and on Broadway in New York, which won six Tony Award nominations). The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, produced in New York in 2002 with Al Pacino in the title role; Measure For Measure, created at The National Theatre of London in 2004, and in 2009, Arthur Miller's All My Sons, also on Broadway, Endgame by Samuel Beckett in 2010, and other plays.
Each project, a classic, an adaptation or a play written by him is delivered to us with particular clarity, as a result of his unique vision and iconoclastic exploration. Whilst often critically controversial, his work has always remained passionately faithful to the text, the writer and the underlying ideas. It's not enough, according to Simon McBurney, to have ideas or questions to put before the audience; you must have the skill and the imagination to bring stories to life on the stage in such a way as to awaken every sense. Whatever the story and whatever the theme, the important thing is always to find precision in the detail, accuracy of gesture and word, control in the articulation of the action so as not to lose the link with the audience amidst the tangle of narratives. A tangle woven, in Mnemonic (1999), to express all the complication of the workings of memory or to bring mathematics to vibrant and joyous life in A Disappearing Number (2007). Simon McBurney's openness and curiosity naturally lead him to travel and work in other countries, as for example, in Japan, where he has created two shows: The Elephant Vanishes, based on the short stories by Haruki Murakami (2003) and Shun-Kin (2008) from the writings of Junichirô Tanizaki.
The poet, novelist and art critic John Berger, who has been a friend and collaborator for some twenty years, has written, “Complicite ignore borders and cross them without official papers.” Simon McBurney has directed three of Berger's texts: The Three Lives of Lucy Cabrol, a short-story from La Cocadrille, which was seen in 1995 at the Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris, To the Wedding in 1997 for the BBC Radio, nominated for the Italia Price in 1998, and then, in 1999, The Vertical Line – a work which investigated the human impulse to paint from its prehistoric origins to the present day– which they co-authored, in a disused underground station in London. The two share a certain vision of the world. A vision “which unites politics and art”, but at the same time, reveals the multiple layers that co-exist in the sight of all that surrounds us at any moment in time. Perhaps, finally that is what is unique in this magnificent, free-ranging, open, inventive and seductively beautiful theatre of Simon McBurney and his company.
It is unique not only because it offers a particular voice and a singular vision, but more specifically because it operates on several levels simultaneously. Just as music does. So the text, light, space, drama, image, sound, rhythm and action work much as lines of harmony, counterpoint and dynamics do in music. And the actors, while remaining absolutely individual in character and performance, create an ensemble of coherence and power that is orchestral in its reach and discipline. It is, therefore, no surprise that Simon McBurney has also had a long association with music and musicians. He has worked with composers and musicians as diverse as Peter Maxwell Davies, Esa Pekka Salonen, Tom Waits, The Pet Shop Boys and The Emmerson Quartet. Creating works such as The Noise of Time (an examination of the fifteen quartet of Dimitri Shostakovitch which was seen at the Opera de Paris in 2005). And having for many years resisted the approach from Opera, he finally gave way in 2010.
His first Opera, A Dog's Heart, was an instant success. Based on Mikhaïl Bulgakov's eponymous short-story, set to music by Alexander Raskatov and produced by De Nederlandse Opera of Amsterdam, and later seen at English National Opera of London, it will be performed once more in 2013 at La Scala in Milan, conducted by Valery Gergiev, and will later appear at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Simon McBurney returns to De Nederlandse Opera this year 2012, to mount a production of The Magic Flute, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he is engaged to direct a new piece composed by the Argentinian composer Osvaldo Golijov with a libretto by Guillermo Del Toro.
Alongside his directorial work at the theatre and his writing activities, Simon McBurney has pursued a successful career as a film actor in the UK and the United States.
JFP, April, 2012