complicite
Complicité (Founded 1983) is a devising theatre group known for their physical theatre style, blending movement, text, music, technology and design to create deeply imaginative, multilayered performances
Simon McBurney has played a huge role in shaping the company's style — he's deeply interested in how theatre can explore memory, imagination, and the ways we perceive reality.
main characteristics include:
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Physical Storytelling: They rely heavily on physical movement and gesture to tell the story, sometimes more than words.
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Ensemble Work: Performances are highly collaborative — there's a strong focus on the company moving and working as one body, like a "hive mind."
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Minimal Set, Maximum Imagination: Often, the stage might look simple or bare, but the actors use their bodies and a few key props to create whole worlds. Audiences are asked to imagine a lot.
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Integration of Technology: They creatively use soundscapes, projections, video, and lighting. Technology is not just decoration — it's part of the storytelling.
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Multilingual / Multicultural: Some pieces use multiple languages and explore global or multicultural themes, reflecting the diversity of their ensemble and the stories they tell.
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Playfulness and Seriousness: Even when dealing with serious themes (like death, loss, war), their work often has a sense of play, experimentation, and magic.
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Exploring the Mind and Memory: Many productions delve into how people remember, dream, and think, rather than sticking to straightforward narratives.
idea of catharsis, audience having a collective experience of what they have lived through. invoking memory from your past creating it a lot more memorable. "All memories are told in first person", creates stronger relation creates difference from storytelling. Heavy focus on the audience. the audience is just as important as the director
Heavily multimedia, including projections and puppets, evolution of their work comes from their initial performances on the street, sparking creativity
It is all about the human condition and try to present this in different ways.
Complicite Styles and Non-Negotiables:
- Visual Imagery/Digital Technology (projections, microphones etc)
- Puppetry
- Physical Theatre
- Rich Characters
- Storytelling
- Breaking the fourth wall/Direct Address
- Overlapping Sounds (live music, pre-recorded sounds)
- Comedy/Le Jeu
- One pivotel set item that is multi-functional
- Choral work
- Mime like and elite sport
- Levels of tension
- Aspect of memory
- the theme should get the audience to reflect and think
"In the end you are just storytellers" ~ Simon McBurney
Each Complicite production is different to the next, which can make it hard to understand their style. One of their key beliefs is to embrace the devising process in a collaborative way, allowing for a multitude of voices. the beauty of the work means that you start from anywhere, from drama games to text and movement and start to vary ways what you have made is performed.
Binaural Sounds:
Binaural sound makes you feel as though you are there, using two microphones to project sound made on stage and pre-recorded in the audiences ears. Complicite used this technique in their production 'The Encounter' to make the audience feel like they were right there with the character in the Amazon rainforest, hearing every tiny sound around them.
Influences of Complicite:
- John Bergers' 'Way of Seeing':
His work discusses perceptions and how we look at artefacts, art and life. it is the key foundation of how Simon approaches devising, looking at alternatives views and the world we actually live in.
- Jacques Lecoq (1921-1999):
trained simon McBurney at Ecole Internationale de Theatre focusing on mime, movement and physical theatre, which is at the heart of physical performances.
- Commedia Dell' Arte:
Elements are shown in performances as the company play on stock characters, improvisation and physical comedy.
- Philippe Gaulier:
'The Buffon' (born 1943) and the idea of clowning, was one of the companies earliest influences . It is worth putting a Bouffon into some of your performances to add elements of comedy, but also adds elements of the grotesque and commentary on societal norms and taboos.
- Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956):
A german playwright, poet and theatre director, known for developing the concept of Epic Theatre. This style of theatre encourages to audiences to think critically rather than becoming emotionally absorbed in the narrative. Brecht aimed to provoke thought and inspire social change by using techniques like breaking the fourth wall, direct address, and using songs and projections to comment on the action. You can see how this work heavily inspired Complicite's work.