Complicité’s devising process always begins with playing games. As well as being funny, playful and, sometimes, competitive, they are key to exploring impulse, space and collaboration. They form the foundation for building a connected ensemble and sparking collective imagination. Playing well is essential for improvisation, creativity and theatre-making.
Good games are open-ended, surprising and experimental. They help us embrace failure and mistakes as part of the process. Relearning how to play keeps us present and focused.. It encourages performers to be braver and to follow their instincts; venturing into new creative territory. But how can a simple game become ‘theatrical play’ – where rhythm, space, tempo, form and dynamics are more intentionally explored?
Join Catherine Alexander — theatre director, writer, and long-time Complicité collaborator, trained at L’École Jacques Lecoq — for a fun and interactive workshop, where we’ll explore games used in many Complicité rehearsals, and discover how they ignite the imagination and bring joy and immersion. We’ll also begin to explore how a game can be played with an audience in mind — offering a path toward dramatic structure.
About Us
Complicité
Complicité is an international touring theatre company led by Artistic Director and co-founder, Simon McBurney. Complicité creates work that strengthens human interconnection, using the complicity between performer and audience that is at the heart of the theatrical experience. The company works across art forms; believing theatre, opera, film, radio, installation, publication and participatory arts can all be sites for the collective act of imagination. Founded in 1983, they have won over 50 major theatre awards worldwide, and played in more than 40 countries.
Learning and engagement are central to their work and its award-winning creative engagement programme includes professional development, work in schools and colleges, and participatory projects with a range of communities.