ABSTRACT
The choice of Theatre de Complicite's director, Simon McBurney, to write a foreword to the English translation of Jacques Lecoq's book speaks of a warm relationship between the two men, and of a debt the former is happy to acknowledge to his old teacher. There is an intriguing congruence between some of Lecoq's own preoccupations and Complicite's choice of Bruno Schulz's stories as the driving impulse behind the particular production. Complicite's production draws upon two collections of Schulz's stories: The Street of Crocodiles and Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass. One of the defining features of Lecoq's teaching was a refusal to separate physical preparation – or training – from dramatic creation. For Frassetto and Schurch, play or playfulness not only drives their creative journey in the devising and rehearsal process, but also defines the actors' relationship to their masks in performance.
