The theatre company Complicite are known for their dedication to long periods of research and wide reach of collaboration, to devise innovative, imaginative theatre and THE ENCOUNTER, Simon McBurney’s latest offering currently playing at the Barbican, is no exception.Inspired by Petru Popescu’s AMAZON BEAMING McBurney recounts the experiences of American photographer Loren McIntyre in the Amazon rainforest amongst the Mayoruna tribe.
The strength of the piece lies in its incredible use of binaural technology. The audience all wear headphones and centre stage is a head-shaped microphone, which McBurney charmingly demonstrates as being a true reflection of how we hear things. Essentially, 3D sound. He blows in the head’s left ear, and the whole audience gasps as their left ears heat up from the realistic sound sensation.
This use of technology is the perfect way to bring an internal experience to stage, as McIntyre’s mind is transformed by his journey through the rainforest. From dehydrated delirium to telepathic communication with his companion Barnacle that transcends spoken language, it allows an intimate encounter to be shared in a vast space. So the audience is simultaneously united and utterly isolated in its experience.
McBurney raises many philosophical questions, particularly about our treatment of the ecosystem and the existence of time, which gives this production its endless layers of thoughts of ideas. It embodies McBurney’s own frantic thoughts as well as McIntyre’s, and demands a lot of the audience. But just when the intensity of his jungle journey could begin to overwhelm, McBurney snaps from his immersive rainforest soundscapes to recordings in his own flat of his young daughter sweetly interrupting his work because she can’t sleep. A strong and moving reminder, that despite the clever voice-deepening microphone and utterly convincing embodiment of McIntyre, it is not really the man himself. It’s Simon McBurney. And we’re at the Barbican.
This is storytelling at its finest, filled with heart, passion and fearlessness
Two hours is a long time to have a story told to you right in your ears, but there is never an urge to remove the headphones. McBurney is at his best when he is most physically involved in the story. As he gets lost in a tribal dance, enhanced by projections of dancing silhouettes on the ground, there is something mesmerising about his body. It becomes harder to stay focused in the longer periods of stillness, during which McBurney almost becomes lost in the vast textured backdrop and smoky dark lights, making it hard for the eyes to focus. I found myself wanting McBurney to lift his head and share the story through his physicality as well as through his hypnotising voice, to truly bring together what we were hearing and what we were seeing.
Complicite continue to push the limits of what theatre can be, and this is not just a technological gimmick, but storytelling at its finest, filled with heart, passion and fearlessness.
Well SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER has finally met its match! I have sat through some duff shows at the Dominion Theatre but this one takes the cake. Anyone remember David Cassidy as an intergalactic warrior in TIME acting along with a 3-D hologram of Lord Olivier’s head? Well, the hologram is back. However this time it is Liam Neeson and we’ve progressed to a whole body hologram.