Simon McBurney News

Rogue Machine brings Frank Capra’s iconic holiday film, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” to the stage in this hilarious and heartwarming one-person show starring Leo Marks. Part fan frenzy and part tour-de-force, it’s a celebration of cinematic storytelling and the differences, big and small, that one person can make in the lives of others. 

As COP26 draws to a close, Complicité, People's Palace Projects and IFAX (Indigenous Association of Upper Xingu) are calling an emergency gathering in response. Complicité will join together with attendees to share reflections from COP, hear from Indigenous people who did not have a seat at the negotiation table in Glasgow, and ask what activists and artists can do next?

Inspired by Fehinti Balogun's experiences in environmental activism, Can I Live? is a specially filmed performance prompting an urgent conversation about the lack of diversity at the heart of the British climate movement.

The first production to open The Pit, following its closure for over a year and a half due to the pandemic, is Poetry + Film / Hack – Rocks curated by Inua Ellams and Michelle Tiwo. The evening begins with a screening of the award-winning critically-acclaimed film Rocks, followed by readings of specially commissioned new work by outstanding Black female poets, including Barbican Young Poets alumni, who respond to the film's themes.

All four members of the Quartet – Eugene Drucker, Philip Setzer, Lawrence Dutton and Paul Watkins – will continue to perform and teach individually; as a group, they will continue to coach and mentor young ensembles through the Emerson String Quartet Institute at Stony Brook University, along with cellist David Finckel, who was a member of the quartet for 34 years. 

Can I Live? goes on a confronting, and ultimately uplifting, journey to discover the global majority activists taking a stand. After watching the filmed performance, audiences will be invited to join discussions and think through the future of our planet, as well as being provided with routes into their own activism.

Complicité theatre company has appointed a new, permanent Executive Director, Amber Massie-Blomfield, to take the company forward as the UK transitions out of lockdown.

Et Alia Theater, in association with Aurora Nova, presents: White Rabbit Red Rabbit by Nassim Soleimanpour, produced by Luísa Galatti and Ana Moioli, performed by Giorgia Valenti. Will you participate? Will you be manipulated? Will you listen? Will you really listen?

With no rehearsals, no director, a different actor each night, and a script waiting in a sealed envelope on stage, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, by Iranian writer Nassim Soleimanpour, is an audacious theatrical experiment and a potent reminder of the transgressive and transformative power of theatre.

Complicité theatre company’s Artistic Director, Simon McBurney, will be joined online by award-winning writers Karen Armstrong, Amin Maalouf and Esther Woolfson to discuss stories: why we tell them, what they do, and, in particular, the story of how we got to where we are now.

Wayward Productions today announces that Max Porter will read his bestselling first novel, Grief is the Thing with Feathers, at Islington's Union Chapel on Sunday 25 October at 7.45pm.

By popular demand, Sierra Madre Playhouse will again present online the recent selection from its Virtual Off the Page series of staged readings, Yellow Face by David Henry Hwang.

The Metropolitan Opera announced today that the company has made the difficult decision to cancel the first few months of its 2020-21 season, based on current information regarding the ongoing health crisis.

Complicité's multi award-winning production The Encounter will be available through 25 May.

Bristol Old Vic today announced three of the five titles that will be streamed on YouTube as part of the Bristol Arts Channel.

St. Ann's Warehouse will stream Simon McBurney's The Encounter for free, available to the public on Friday, May 15 (2pm EST) through Friday, May 22 (5pm EST). A live discussion and public Q&A will take place on Wednesday, May 20 at 2:30pm EST (7:30pm BST) with Simon McBurney and guests.

Following the success of Complicité's multi award-winning production The Encounter in 2016 and 2017, where over 88,000 people watched the show online, the recording will be available again for one week on Complicité's website and YouTube channel.

Berlin's Schaubühne will stream Ungeduld des Herzens (Beware Of Pity) today at 12:30pm EST.

The Global Theater Initiative invites all theatres, individual artists, institutions, and audiences to celebrate the 59th annual World Theatre Day on March 27, 2020. Each year, a renowned theatre artist is invited by the International Theatre Institute Worldwide in Shanghai to craft an international message to mark the global occasion.

The government's temporary decision to ban events and gatherings until 1 June 2020, in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus, means that the Dutch National Opera & Ballet's theatre will remain closed until then.