One man on a largely bare stage in an enormous theatre: who would have imagined it could be so beguiling? Simon McBurney’s thrillingly charismatic solo show for Complicité delighted London audiences on its original run in 2016, winning an Evening Standard Award for Best Design in the process, and now returns in triumph.
It’s inspired by Petru Popescu’s novel Amazon Beaming, about real-life American photographer Loren McIntyre who, in 1969, got lost in a remote area of Brazil while looking for the Mayoruna people. That outline is exciting in itself, but what makes this story exceptional is the use of cutting-edge binaural sound technology, which delivers us McBurney’s narrative via headphones. ‘I want people to experience being both alone and together simultaneously’, he said in an interview and this singular sensation of solitude in a 1,100-seat venue is, well, sensational.
I found myself replying out loud to McBurney, so immediate and proximate does his voice sound. This immersive atmosphere becomes ever more mesmerising the deeper McIntyre ventures, to a place where time takes on a more fluid dimension.
At a certain point claustrophobia and paranoia set in and our headphones, as well as McBurney’s unflagging excellence, ensure we are intimately caught up in the fear. This is something very special.
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