Associate artist - Simon McBurney

Each year, Hortense Archambault and Vincent Baudriller, directors of the Festival, involve one or two artists in the preparation of each edition. Before putting together the program, they dialogue with these "associate artists" so that the Festival is enriched with a different sensibility, a different viewpoint on the theater arts and creation. The Festival 2012 is being prepared with the director Simon McBurney. 

© Christophe Raynaud de Lage

Actor, writer, director and co-founder of Complicite, Simon McBurney has written, directed and acted in more than 30 productions for the British company, that have brought him international renown. His works are polyphonic shows, full of life and spirit, cleverly combining words, images and music, while offering the actors a wonderful space of freedom. Trained at the École Jacques Lecoq in Paris, this “story-teller”, as he defines himself, recently directed A Dog's Heart, an original opera produced by De Nederlandse Opera in collaboration with Complicite. Other recent work includes Shun-kin, A Disappearing Number, Measure for Measure, A Minute Too Late, The Elephant Vanishes, Pet Shop Boys meet Eisenstein (Trafalgar Square) and Strange Poetry (with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in the Walt Disney Concert Hall). Other directing includes All My Sons (with John Lithgow, Diane Wiest, Patrick Wilson and Katie Holmes on Broadway) and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (with Al Pacino in New York). As an actor, he performs extensively in feature films in Britain and the USA.