Simon McBurney
Simon McBurney
====================
Full Name and Common Aliases
Simon Fraser McBurney is a British actor, director, and theatre company founder.
Birth and Death Dates
Born on July 30, 1957, in London, England. Still active in his career.
Nationality and Profession(s)
British, Actor, Director
Early Life and Background
Simon McBurney was born to a Scottish father and an English mother. His family moved frequently during his childhood due to his father's work as a diplomat for the British Foreign Office. This peripatetic upbringing would later influence his interest in cultural exchange and international collaboration.
McBurney developed an early passion for theatre, attending the Arts Educational School in London. He went on to study at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), where he honed his acting skills alongside other notable British actors.
Major Accomplishments
Simon McBurney is best known as the co-founder and artistic director of Complicite, a multidisciplinary theatre company based in London. Under his leadership, Complicite has produced numerous critically acclaimed productions that blend physical theatre, music, and visual art. Some notable examples include:
The Encounter: A one-man show where McBurney played the role of an Amazonian shaman communicating with the audience through a pair of headphones.
Shun-kin: A Japanese-inspired adaptation of Samuel Beckett's Endgame, which explored themes of isolation and communication.
Notable Works or Actions
McBurney has worked extensively in film, television, and theatre. Some notable productions include:
The Young Victoria (2009): McBurney played the role of Sir Robert Peel.
War Horse (2011): He directed the Royal National Theatre's production of Michael Morpurgo's novel adaptation.
Impact and Legacy
Simon McBurney has made significant contributions to contemporary theatre. His innovative approach to storytelling, blending physicality with intellectual curiosity, has inspired a new generation of artists. Complicite's international collaborations have promoted cross-cultural understanding, fostering global dialogue through the arts.
Why They Are Widely Quoted or Remembered
McBurney's commitment to pushing boundaries in theatrical storytelling has earned him recognition within both artistic and academic circles. His work continues to inspire and provoke audiences worldwide.
Quotes by Simon McBurney
Simon McBurney's insights on:
Every time I make, I’ve made a piece of work, I’ve wanted to get rid of it, obliterate it and do the next thing, because it was never quite what I wanted. I think the moment you think you’ve arrived is the moment that you should stop.
People expect the math to be simplified, but I want to surprise them right from the start. When the brain gets lost, it doesn’t stop working. It tries to makes sense of things. It begins to speculate and guess, and that’s when things open up. That’s exciting.
We live in an age where quantity is seen as preferable to quality, and many people tend to work in a horizontal line: next, next, next. But if you do that, you never investigate the vertical line – the depth of the piece.
Normally when people ask me what I do I say I’m an actor, and that’s what I always wanted to be and that’s the way I approach work even when I’m directing it.
As far as I’m concerned all theatre is physical. As Aristotle says, you know, theatre is an act and an action, and he didn’t mean just the writing of it, he meant that at the centre of any piece there is an action, a physical action.
I mean I’m talking about playing games, about imagining other people, and it’s part of the way that it helps you actually see the world.
We live in an age where quantity is seen as preferable to quality, and many people tend to work in a horizontal line: next, next, next. But if you do that, you never investigate the vertical line - the depth of the piece.
Theatre artists are essentially sort of charlatans and thieves, I mean that's the tradition that we come from, so I have absolutely no, I make no bones about the fact that I steal from here and I take from there, and we all do it, that's perfectly all right, that's the nothing, there's nothing new in the world, there's nothing actually new in the way that you do something, but the point is is how do you take something and use it to articulate what is essentially a core of any given theatrical production.