Complicite

Name: Complicite
Address: Studio 15, Jolt Studios, 27 St. Aldate Street, Gloucester, GL11RP, GB
Telephone: +442074857700
Price range: ££

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Founded 1983. ‘…the most influential and consistently interesting theatre company working in Britain’ (The Times)

29/10/2026

Dans les coulisses de "Questions forJohn"
du 31 octobre au 8 novembre
Simon McBurney/John Berger.

Emma Cameron (régisseuse générale) et Tim Bell (producteur créatif) nous parle de l'orchestration technique et créative permettant l'émergeance de cette pièce. Deux passioné.e.s au service des arts vivants !

Face aux guerres, aux logiques d’exploitation, aux solidarités qui se cherchent, aux savoirs qui peinent à se traduire en actes, qu’est-il advenu aux liens qui nous unissent ? Pourquoi détruisons-nous ce que nous aimons ? Et que peut l'art aujourd'hui ? Même si John Berger est mort, Simon McBurney a encore des questions pour son ami et mentor.

Plus d'informations sur notre site (lien en bio 👆)

28/10/2026

Today we announce a brand-new collaboration; between Complicité, V (formerly known as Eve Ensler, the Tony and Obie-award winning writer of The Va**na Monologues) and the The Royal Court Theatre.

Since 2024, we have been in conversation with V about how we might bring her extraordinary autobiographical novel The Apology to life on stage.

We are thrilled to be presenting it at the Royal Court next year. It feels like the perfect home for this groundbreaking piece, as a place for writers and artists to be bold, daring and shake the foundations of what we know and understand. And rebuild something that attempts to shift our perspective.

The Apology is an audacious act of theatrical imagination, a ritual in which V conjures her dead father to confront the abuse he inflicted on her as a child. To offer her the apology he never gave.

Starring Emmy Award-winner Tobias Menzies, alongside V herself and a choral ensemble.

Simon McBurney directs this world premiere, with set design by Es Devlin.

19 Mar – 24 Apr 2027

Royal Court Theatre and Complicité in association with Brian & Dayna Lee and Tectonic Theater Project.

Alongside The Apology, we are developing two other projects. Questions for John, a new solo show from Simon McBurney, premieres at Théâtre de Vidy, Switzerland this week before touring the UK and Europe in 2027.

In February next year Das blinde Licht / When We Cease to Understand the World, a stage adaptation of Benjamin Labatut’s novel of the same name, will open at the Schaubühne Berlin. A German-language production directed by Simon McBurney and associate directed by Christina Deinsberger, it tells the stories of scientists and thinkers almost broken by the scale of their own discoveries, and by the catastrophic consequences of human ambition.

There is a common thread across this work. Origins. Origins of violence, scientific discovery, relationships, war. Of what it means to be human. Of how we got to this very difficult place we find ourselves in.

And all this work, in different ways, seems to ask the same burning question: how might tracing these origins help us better understand, connect and progress forwards?

📷 Guy Sanders & Clare Park

27/10/2026

In a time when wars, ecological collapse and political cruelty arrive daily on the screens we hold in our hands, John Berger’s insistence on attention feels newly necessary.

In the lead up to Questions for John premiering at Théâtre de Vidy this Saturday, we continue to ask: how do we look without turning away?

We came across this image of John's eyes in Silwan, a neighbourhood of Jerusalem, while researching and developing Questions for John. Painted as part of I Witness Silwan, an international public art project in support of the resistance to the expulsion of the Palestinian residents of Silwan.

“The staring eyes say to people that we see them and they should see us too…we want to say that we are here — we love our land and our home.”
- Jawad Siyam, Director of Madaa-Silwan Creative Center

John Berger wrote about and visited Palestine many times throughout his life; he wrote several essays and many of his fictional works were inspired by what he witnessed there.

“Everywhere one goes in Palestine – even in rural areas – one finds oneself amongst rubble […] There’s also the rubble of words – the rubble of words that house nothing any more, whose sense has been destroyed […] What is happening is the careful destruction of a people and a promised nation. And around this destruction there are small words and evasive silence.” - from ‘Undefeated Despair’, an essay in Hold Everything Dear

To attend is not passive. It is an act of resistance.

Questions for John
31 Oct - 8 Nov
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Switzerland

© Kobi Wolf

26/10/2026

Snapshots from our September workshop: Kneehigh X Complicité: The Conditions for Creativity.

Situated on top of a hill on the Cornish coast, the Kneehigh barns held workshop leaders Mike Shepherd (founder of Kneehigh) and Catherine Alexander (Complicité Associate) and 12 creative practitioners for four days. The artists explored teaching, facilitating and holding space as creative acts that are integral to their artistic practice.

Thank you to the brilliant Mark & Catherine for holding this precious space and to the Kneehigh barns for providing such an inspiring setting for creativity to bloom.

22/10/2026

Some snippets from the Questions for John prop-making process by the brilliant

These books will be on stage soon, alongside our Artistic Director Simon McBurney, in Questions for John, opening on 31 October at Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Switzerland.

Touring the UK and Europe in 2027. More dates to be announced.

20/10/2026

In September, we ran a week-long masterclass to celebrate the Jacques Lecoq School's (Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq - Officiel) 70th anniversary.

This workshop brought together a group of theatre professionals, led by Jos Houben and François Lecomte. With a special day of collaborative exchanges featuring Complicité’s Artistic Director Simon McBurney and additional members of the Jacques Lecoq School team.

We've written a piece celebrating the school's 70th anniversary and its impact on Complicité, which you can read now on our website.

📷 Sarah Ainslie

19/10/2026

🏔 The Questions for John company have arrived in Switzerland, ahead of their premiere at Théâtre de Vidy at the end of the month.

This new solo work by our Artistic Director Simon McBurney holds the echoes of his 25-year collaboration with John Berger, the late writer, critic and storyteller.

In a time when wars, ecological collapse and political cruelty arrive daily on the screens we hold in our hands, Berger’s insistence on attention feels newly necessary.

To attend is not passive. It is an act of resistance.

31 Oct - 8 Nov
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Switzerland

A Complicité co-production with Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Edinburgh International Festival, Les Nuits de Fourvière, festival international de la métropole de Lyon, MC93 – Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis and Les Célestins, Théâtre de Lyon, in association with the Barbican, London.

📷 Clare Park

15/10/2026

Take a look inside the Questions for John rehearsal room 👀

At the end of the month, this new solo work from our Artistic Director Simon McBurney will premiere at Théâtre de Vidy.

Holding the echoes of a 25-year collaboration between Simon and the late writer, critic and storyteller John Berger, Questions for John also confronts the most urgent questions of our times.

What has become of the bonds that unite us?
Why do we destroy what we love?
And what can art do today?

And what does it mean to keep asking these questions, when we are still searching for the answers?

31 Oct - 8 Nov
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Switzerland

A Complicité co-production with Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, Edinburgh International Festival, Les Nuits de Fourvière, festival international de la métropole de Lyon, MC93 – Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis and Les Célestins, Théâtre de Lyon, in association with the Barbican, London.

Touring the UK and Europe in 2027. More dates to be announced.

📷 Clare Park

15/10/2026

This October, three of our brilliant Mudlarks artists are bringing their work to UK theatres, with two in London and one in Bristol.

NINA - Battersea Arts Centre, London, until 24 Oct
A series of actresses audition to play Nina in Chekhov’s The Seagull for a charismatic, yet sinister director. His methods are unorthodox, annihilating, and very effective. In a post era, NINA is a meta theatrical fever dream on coercion, power and the quest for creative expression. A new play by Caroline Williams. https://bac.org.uk/whats-on/nina/.

Niplash - To***co Factory Theatres, Bristol, 20 Oct
Niplash by Karla Shacklock dives into the societal pressures, insane mixed messaging and unconditional love surrounding infant feeding. Through humour, honesty, and vulnerability, Karla opens a space where art can be both a balm and a battle cry. Expect to see milk, tears and confetti. https://tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/niplash/.

TELLUS - Sadlers Wells East, London, 21-24 Oct
TELLUS begins with a simple, intimate act: Olivier Award-winning dancer, choreographer and composer Dickson Mbi’s desire to tell his son a bedtime story. But this isn’t just any story; it’s an epic drawn from the wellspring of his Cameroonian heritage, inspired by the mythical deity Mami Wata, a life source of beauty and love whose power can also turn to destruction. https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/dickson-mbi-company-tellus/.

12/10/2026

Huge congratulations to Anne Carson on being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Her unique, poetic works that transcend genre and resist easy categorisation have long been a source of inspiration for Complicité.

Earlier this year we produced Anne's one-act radio play, I Don't Do Innocents. Directed by and starring Simon McBurney, the cast includes Annabel Arden, Thomas Arnold, Tamzin Griffin, Richard Katz, Sarah Slimani, Emma Corrin and Finn Deutsch Kelly.

Created for The Paris Review, the play is available to listen to on The Paris Review, Spotify, Apple podcasts or wherever you get your audio.

www.complicite.org/work/i-dont-do-innocents

📷 Anne Carson by Pontus Lundahl/TT/Reuters, Sarah Ainslie

Address

Studio 15, Jolt Studios, 27 St. Aldate Street
Gloucester
GL11RP

Telephone

+442074857700

Website

http://www.complicite.org/

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