Complicité was founded in 1983 by the now one of the leaders of the theatre company Simon McBurney OBE, along with another practitioner named Judith Dimant MBE.
Complicité began creating work as an ensemble, collaborating with different writers, dramatists, choreographers etc along the way, which has helped them to create visually stunning, emotionally engaging and physically daring work. The Company is famous for making its work throughout months of research and development which helps the directors find performers, designers, writers, artists and specialists from different fields to create performances – a process also known as ‘devising’.
Below is a video that shows various performances from Complicité
Looking at this video gave me a lot to think about when it comes to devising, as ‘Tales of the Afterlives’, is going to be a devised piece. Watching this also gave me a lot to think about, when it comes to physical theatre, as most of their work is movement based, such as playing around with pace and how the performers communicate with each other through movement.
I also found these quotes about Complicité’s work, and personally I found these useful. Peter Brook is well known for his collaborations with another theatre company called Frantic Assembly (another devising company) and in his speech, ‘created work in their own tradition’ jumped out at me, as this could be a goal when devising ‘Tales of the Afterlives’, as Brook mentioned the fact that Complicité is ‘special’ and that their performances are ‘valuable’. This could show the fact that more people can be transported by productions, with various themes.
Rhum and Clay Theatre Company
Rhum and Clay derived their name from nights out in Paris and were drinking ‘Rhum’ and hand making masks out of ‘Clay’.
The company was invented in Paris at L’Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in 2010. Rhum and Clay’s speciality when it comes to theatre is devising. They aim to create theatre consisting of elation within physical movement, and the fact that a story can emerge from the simplest of movement.
Below is a video from their latest production ‘Testosterone’, which was performed at Edinburgh Fringe earlier this year.
Rhum and Clay aim to produce theatre with inventive performers, coordinated with artistic movement, along with illogical clowning with a cinematic approach and style. They also aim to fully engage their audiences until the very end and hope they enjoy watching their shows as much as the performers have loved creating them.
Devised Project 