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Simon McBurney

SIMON MCBURNEY

  
Nationality:    British
email:    Click here to contact     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Studied at Cambridge and trained in Paris. Co-founder and Artistic Director of Complicite with whom he has devised, directed and acted in over 24 productions, toured all over the world and won numerous major international awards. As a director he has been nominated for Olivier, Drama Desk and Tony Awards. As an actor Simon has performed extensively for radio, television and film including Sleepy Hollow, Kafka, Tom and Viv, Being Human, Mesmer, the Ogre, Cousin Bette, Onegin and Eisenstein.

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below is a list of Simon McBurney's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Beware Of Pity         Disappearing Number         Elephant Vanishes, The         Encounter, The         Light         Master And Margarita, The         Mnemonic         Noise Of Time, The         Shun-Kin         Street of Crocodiles, The         Three Lives Of Lucie Cabrol, The

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Disappearing Number

Synopsis:
inspired by the true story of the collaboration between two remarkable mathematicians: Cambridge Professor G H Hardy and Srinivasa Ramanujan, a poor Brahmin from South india. Exploring the beauty of mathematics and the complexity of modern India, A Disappearing Number is a provocative meditation on the nature of imagination, journey and identity.

Notes:
devised by Complicite And Simon McBurney

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:  9 performers

Further Reference:
-

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Elephant Vanishes, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
from Haruki Murakami stories

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:
Devised Piece

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  7 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

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation 120 min

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Light

Synopsis:
A man goes on a journey in search of love and returns to his village carrying death in the form of a plague-ridden rabbit. the village is ravaged by sickness, and of those who survive, none any longer knows what is right and what is wrong. the opposing values of civilisation and barbarity balance on a knife edge.

Notes:
Based on the book by Torgny Lindgren . Adapted by Simon McBurney And Matthew Broughton . Devised by the company

1st Produced:
Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield     2000

Organisations:
Theatre de Complicite

1st Published:
Oberon, London,    -

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:
Devised Piece

Parts:
Male:  6            Female:  3            Other:  extras

Further Reference:
-

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Master And Margarita, The

Master And Margarita, The
Moscow in the age of Stalin and a mysterious stranger appears in a park . . .Soon he and his retinue have astonished the locals with the magic show to end all magic shows and have quite literally set the town alight. But what's the real purpose behind their visit? And what the devil has it to do with the gorgeous and sensual Margarita? Or with her lover the Master, a writer whose masterpiece has been silenced by earthly powers. And will anyone solve the mystery before the night of the spring full moon?

Notes:
Original Playwright - Mikhail Bulgakov, Adapted by Simon McBurney, Edward Kemp And the Company Complicite

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:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  large cast

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

Booksellers:

Genre:
Devised Piece

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:

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Noise Of Time, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

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:
Devised Piece

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  -            Other:  musicians

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:  10 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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Three Lives Of Lucie Cabrol, The

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
written with Wheatley

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:  7            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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