Complicite invites you to The Encounter

Discover how The Encounter was created

How do you take an audience to the heart of the Amazon?

Complicite and the The Space joined forces to do just that.

Following the success of Complicité’s multi award-winning production The Encounter in 2016 and 2017, where over 88,000 people watched the show online, the recording was made available again for one week during the Covid19 lockdown in May 2020 on Complicité’s website and YouTube channel. Complicité’s partners across the globe also hosted the production, turning their websites into theatres for the week.

The Encounter online was supported by The Space, was free to watch, available online from 15 May until 22 May 2020. Audiences wore headphones to experience the show’s extraordinary binaural sound design (3D audio).

In The Encounter, Director-performer Simon McBurney brings Petru Popescu’s book Amazon Beaming to life on stage.

The show follows the journey of Loren McIntyre, a photographer who got lost in Brazil’s remote Javari Valley in 1969.

It uses live and recorded 3D sound, video projections and loop pedals to recreate the intense atmosphere of the rainforest.

The production toured Australia, Europe and the USA to much acclaim and audiences had another chance to see this award winning production as a live recording of the show was available online again for one week in May 2017.

Simon McBurney holding a phone up playing sound to a binaural microphone

Complicite first teamed up with The Space to broadcast The Encounter live online from London’s Barbican in March 2016. A live discussion event and public Q&A took place on Wednesday 20 May, 7.30pm, with Simon McBurney and guests, including filmmaker Takumã Kuikuro on a link to the Xingu region of the Amazon.

In the first live-streamed production ever to use 3D sound, viewers got the chance to experience the atmosphere of one of the strangest and most beautiful places on Earth – all through their headphones.

This production of The Encounter accrued a host of awards and nominations for the company, including:

For more on The Encounter and how we were able to bring it to new audiences online read The Encounter- a case study in live streaming theatre

About this artist

Complicite is a UK-based touring theatre company known for its imaginative original productions and adaptations of classic books and plays, and its groundbreaking use of technology. The Encounter is directed and performed by Simon McBurney, co-director is Kirsty Housley.

Visit the Complicite website

The Encounter is a Complicite co-production with the Barbican, Edinburgh International Festival, Onassis Cultural Centre – Athens, Schaubühne Berlin, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne and Warwick Arts Centre. Supported by Sennheiser and The Wellcome Trust.