NDT 2 presents Falling into Shadow: a programme featuring a world premiere by Botis Seva, Wir Sagen uns Dunkles by Marco Goecke and Walking Mad by Johan Inger. To be seen from March 27 onwards in various Dutch theatres.
The complete triptych by Simon McBurney, Artistic Director of Complicité, and NDT associate choreographer Crystal Pite, performed by NDT 1.
Dear friends,
We are honoured to welcome you to one of the most significant programmes of the 2024-25 season, Figures in Extinction.
For the past four years, we’ve proudly cultivated a collaboration between two visionary artists—our associate choreographer Crystal Pite and Complicité’s Artistic Director Simon McBurney—as well as between our two companies. Now, we celebrate the premiere of the final chapter in the Figures in Extinction trilogy—presented in full for the first time ever.
Figures in Extinction [1.0] the list (2022) focuses on the loss of animals and natural phenomena, while [2.0] but then you come to the humans (2024) is a profound examination of how we as humans have disconnected from ourselves and others. The latest creation [3.0] requiem confronts our distance from death and those we’ve lost. This epic trilogy merges dance and theatre, highlighting NDT’s remarkable creative versatility.
Figures in Extinction is a striking example of art as a mirror to the world.
It reflects the challenges and crises we face; laying bare what we often try to escape, while at the same time quietly offering us hope that change is still possible. Pite and McBurney’s poetic confrontation with extinction is therefore also a call to the living, to (re)connect to ourselves and those around us.
A heartfelt thank you to Crystal, Simon, our partners at Complicité, our incredible dancers, and the entire NDT team for their extraordinary passion and dedication in bringing this unique collaboration to life. And a thank you to each of you, for joining us!
Emily Molnar
Artistic Director
Crystal Pite with Simon McBurney
SENIOR CREATIVE PRODUCER
Tim Bell
MUSIC
Original composition by Owen Belton. Additional sound design by Benjamin Grant.
Includes musical fragments of:
Perfume Genius: Normal Song, written by Michael Hadreas. Published by KMR Holdings L.P. Administered by Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Blick Bassy: Aké. Written by Olama Blick Bassy & Clement Petit. Published by No Format! / Collect! © Music Publishers BV. Licensed by Alter K/Collect! © Music Publishers BV
TEXT
Excerpts from Why Look at Animals? by John Berger © John Berger, 2009 and John Berger Estate.
VOICES
Simon McBurney, Mamie McBurney, Max Casella, David Annen
LIGHT DESIGN
Tom Visser
SCENIC DESIGN
Jay Gower Taylor
REFLECTIVE LIGHT BACKDROP
Concept by Jay Gower Taylor. Design in collaboration with Tom Visser
COSTUME DESIGN
Nancy Bryant
PUPPET DIRECTION
Toby Sedgwick
PUPPET DESIGN AND BUILT
Jochen Lange
VIDEO TITLE EDITOR
Ennya Larmit
WORLD PREMIERE
Friday May 6, 2022
Amare, The Hague
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTORS
Francesca Caroti, Tamako Akiyama, Ander Zabala
DURATION
33 minutes
With thanks to Joe Dines, Cosmo Sheldrake, Shenoah Allen, Thomas Arnold, Bronya Deutsch, Weronika Maria, Cesar Sarachu, Grzegorz Staniewicz and Cassie, Teyo and Noma McBurney
Alexander Andison
Anna Bekirova
Demi Bawon
Jon Bond
Conner Bormann
Pamela Campos
Emmitt Cawley
Isla Clarke
Scott Fowler
Barry Gans
Ricardo Hartley III
Nicole Ishimaru
Chuck Jones
Genevieve O’Keeffe
Omani Ormskirk
Kele Roberson
Luca Tessarini
Theophilus Veselý
Nicole Ward
Sophie Whittome
Rui-Ting Yu
Zenon Zubyk
Simon McBurney with Crystal Pite
SENIOR CREATIVE PRODUCER
Tim Bell
MUSIC
Original composition by Benjamin Grant.
Includes musical fragments of:
Claude Debussy: La mer, L. 109 – I. From Dawn Till Noon on the Sea, performed by Berliner Philharoniker, Herbert von Karajan, Claude Debussy
Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10 in E minor, Op. 93: I. Moderato, performed by Vasily Petrenko & Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. © Boosey & Hawkes, London / Albersen Verhuur, Den Haag
Johan Sebastian Bach: Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor, BWV 1043 I. Vivace, performed by Zubin Mehta, Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Johann Sebastian Bach, New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Nils Frahm: Less, performed by Nils Frahm, Faber music.
Alfred Schnittke: Cello Sonata No. 1: I Largo, II Presto, performed by Natalia Gutman. © Boosey & Hawkes, London / Albersen Verhuur, Den Haag
Jim Perkins: The North Wind, violin by Anna de Bruin, recorded by Mark Knight, produced by Jim Perkins & Mark Knight, mastered by Ben Wiffen
Owen Belton: Extinction Crescendo, created for Figures in Extinction [1.0]
Additional music by Josh Sneesby
TEXT
The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World by Iain McGilchrist (2009)
Audio reproduced with kind permission of the RSA: www.theRSA.org
VOICES
David Annen, Thomas Arnold, Suibhan Harrison, Mamie McBurney, Sarah Slimani, Sophie Steer, Indira Varma, Dan Wolff
TEXT FRAGMENTS
The use of the text by Alan Watts was provided courtesy of alanwatts.org from his talks on the ‘Nature of Consciousness’ President Trump on Climate Change at G7 news conference: c-span.org.
LIGHT DESIGN
Tom Visser
DESIGN CONSULTANT
Michael Levine
Design associate: Anna Yates
VIDEO DESIGN
Arjen Klerkx
COSTUME DESIGN
Simon McBurney in collaboration with Yolanda Klompstra
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTORS
Tamako Akiyama, Emily Molnar
WORLD PREMIERE
February 8, 2024
Amare, The Hague
DURATION
33 minutes
Alexander Andison
Demi Bawon
Anna Bekirova
Jon Bond
Conner Bormann
Pamela Campos
Emmitt Cawley
Scott Fowler
Nicole Ishimaru
Chuck Jones
Paloma Lassere
Genevieve O’Keeffe
Kele Roberson
Luca Tessarini
Theophilus Veselý
Nicole Ward
Sophie Whittome
Rui-Ting Yu
Zenon Zubyk
Read The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World:
Simon McBurney and Crystal Pite
SENIOR CREATIVE PRODUCER
Tim Bell
MUSIC
Sound design by Benjamin Grant.
Associate sound designer: Raffaella Pancucci
Includes musical fragments of:
New composition by Owen Belton
Gabriel Fauré: Requiem, Op. 48: I. Introït, Warner Music Group.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Requiem, K. 626: III. Sequentia: f. Lacrimosa (Compl. Süssmayr, Orch. Beyer) – Live, published by Deutsche Grammophon GmbH, Berlin.
Alfred Schnittke: Voices of Nature (1972) (parts), Requiem from the incidental music to ‘Don Carlos‘ (1975) (Parts: Kyrie & Aeternam), published by © Sikorski, Hamburg / licensed by Albersen Verhuur, The Hague
Connor Price, Haviah Mighty: Trendsetter, Amuse.
Ice Spice: Princess Diana, Universal Music Group.
Arvo Pärt: Symphony No. 4, Albersen Verhuur, Den Haag.
Lalo Schifrin: Millie, Classic Music International
TEXT
Pages of the wound (Twelve Theses on the Economy of the Dead), And our faces, My heart, Brief as photos by John Berger ©John Berger Estate
LIGHT DESIGN
Tom Visser
SET DESIGN
Michael Levine
Associate set designer: Christophe Eynde
Assistant set designer: Peter Butler
REFLECTIVE LIGHT BACKDROP
Concept by Jay Gower Taylor. Design in collaboration with Tom Visser
PROJECTION DESIGN
Will Duke
Assistants projection design: David Butler, Arthur Skinner
COSTUME DESIGN
Nancy Bryant
ADDITIONAL DIALOGUE
Georgia Pritchett
VOICE ACTORS
David Annen, Thomas Arnold, Brooke Bloom, Heather Burns, Max Casella, Tamzin Griffin, Amanda Hadingue, Miles Jupp, Eric Morris, Ajay Naidu, Saskia Reeves, Dallas Roberts, Sarah Slimani, Arthur Wilson, Dan Wolff
NDT REHEARSAL DIRECTORS
Emily Molnar, Francesca Caroti
WORLD PREMIERE
February 19, 2025
Factory International / Aviva Studios, Manchester
DURATION
41 minutes
Alexander Andison
Demi Bawon
Anna Bekirova
Jon Bond
Conner Bormann
Pamela Campos
Emmitt Cawley
Isla Clarke
Barry Gans
Ricardo Hartley III
Nicole Ishimaru
Chuck Jones
Paloma Lasserre
Genevieve O’Keeffe
Omani Ormskirk
Kele Roberson
Luca Tessarini
Theophilus Veselý
Nicole Ward
Sophie Whittome
Rui-Ting Yu
Zenon Zubyk
This new creation has been made possible with financial support from Ammodo, Fonds 21 and Dutch Masters Foundation.
View more photos in the gallery
Co-commission by Factory International
Co-produced by Schrit_tmacher Festival, Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and Montpellier Danse
Complicité is an international touring theatre company led by Artistic Director and co-founder, Simon McBurney. The company creates work that strengthens human interconnection, using the complicity between performer and audience that is at the heart of the theatrical experience. Founded in 1983, they have won over 50 major theatre awards worldwide, and played in more than 40 countries.
Alongside Simon McBurney’s work the company supports artists through the ‘Mudlarks’ strand; widening access and pro-actively seeking to support talented artists who are under-represented in the theatre sector. Learning and engagement are central to the company’s work, and their award-winning creative engagement programme includes professional development, work in schools and colleges, and participatory projects with a range of communities.
Complicité is committed to responding to the climate and ecological emergency. They are a founding member of Culture Declares Emergency and are a member of a working group of UK Touring Theatre Companies to share best sustainable practice and to develop the Theatre Green Book Touring Guidance.
In creating this performance, we have tried to obtain as much permission as possible from the original rights holders or their publishers for the use of music, image, text and/or sound fragments. If a rights holder thinks they can claim an image or excerpt used in this performance, please contact NDT at info@ndt.nl.
