European Echoes in Complicité: Kathryn Hunter, Marcello Magni, and Annabel Arden

Dr hab. Tomasz Wiśniewski. Prof. UG
Head of Department of Performing Arts Studies
Institute of English and American Studies
University of Gdańsk, Poland

The 5 th Artistic Research Meeting at The Art of Dance, Dance School in Athens, Greece and the
multipurpose space Avlaia at Marathon Beach, 29-31 January 2026.

We cannot pretend that we are not aware of this: Europe is what we need to discuss in these early
months of 2026. Theatre is certainly one of those fields where transnational dialogue is possible,
as it goes far beyond the restrictions of natural language. This seminar is rooted in my research
on the London-based company that initially was called – somehow provocatively to English
spectators – Théâtre de la Complicité. At present, it is known simply as Complicité. Led by
Simon McBurney, the company has extended cosmopolitan training provided in post-war Paris
by Jacques Lecoq in an attempt to challenge the insular preoccupations of text-based British
theatre.
The seminar focuses on the European dimension of Complicité’s aesthetics on numerous levels,
including those grounded in continental motivations, international literary inspirations, and the
practice of intense continental collaborators. The prominence of Kathryn Hunter, Marcello
Magni, Annabel Arden and others should mark out the European resonances of the company’s
work. Performances such as The Visit, Mnemonic, and Drive Your Plow over the Bones of the
Dead, are treated as the primary research material. Taking the case study of Complicité as its
core, the seminar aims to provide ground for dialogue concerning the idea of European identity
in the contemporary world. It provides a case study of Complicité but attempts to set a broader
context for the discussion. The theatre makers that are referred to include: Gianina Cărbunariu,
Anna Smolar, Alicja Mojko, Katie Mitchell, Marina Carr, Caitriona McLaughlin, Paula Meehan,
Radu Afrim, Tiago Rodrigues, Grzegorz Bral, Włodzimierz Staniewski, Tadeusz Kantor, and
Jerzy Grotowski. And the master of Brazilian 20 th century theatre: Ze Célso.
The overall framework for this multi-media encounter of theatre-makers and academics is set by
the enduring cooperation of the Makings of the Actor and the Between.Pomiędzy Research
Group, affiliated with the University of Gdańsk, Poland.

Dr hab. Tomasz Wiśniewski, Prof UG is Head of the Department of Performing Arts Studies
and of Between.Pomiędzy Research Group. He is the founder of the Beckett Research Group in
Gdańsk. He was Deputy Director for Research in the Institute of English and American Studies
at the University of Gdańsk (2016-2019). He is the author of Complicite, Theatre and

Aesthetics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016), Kształt literacki dramatu Samuela Becketta (Universitas,
2006), and has (co-)edited over twenty academic publications, including Between Page and
Stage. Scholars and Theatre-Makers (UG Press, 2017), Włodzimierz Staniewski and the
Phenomenon of “Gardzienice” (Routledge, 2022), and ENTRE Almanach 2024 (Lucias Press –
São Paolo and WUG, 2024). He is on the editorial board of Anthem Studies in Theatre and
Performance and the literary quarterly Tekstualia (Warsaw). He is a Regional Managing Editor
for The Theatre Times, a member of the board of the Polish Association for the Study of English
(since 2018), and was a member of the Progamme Board of the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre
(2018-2025). He has been the principal investigator in grants awarded by the Ministry of Culture
in Poland, National Centre for Culture Poland (NCK) and local authorities (The Marshal of the
Pomorskie Voivodeship and the City Council of Sopot). In the years 2021-2024, he led the
projects “Theatre – Literature – Management” and “The Geography of the Imagination: Irish
Theatre” supported by the Programme of Humanities in Gdańsk. In the years 2025-2027, his
research is focused on “Polish Echoes in Complicité” and it is supported by a grant awarded by
the National Science Centre (NCN) within the OPUS programme. Besides, his current research
includes Irish theatre and drama, Song of the Goat Theatre, and commercial semiotics.

Day 1.  31 January 18:00-19:30
Day 2.  1 February  16:30-18:00