For immediate release:
Barbican June 2016 Highlights
Highlights of the Barbican programme in June include Isabelle Huppert making a rare London
appearance to star in Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe’s Phaedra(s), co-produced by the Barbican and LIFT
2016. Malthouse Theatre brings Australia’s foremost Indigenous actors together for The Shadow King –
a retelling of King Lear transporting the story to the resource-laden northern territories. The Barbican
presents two productions in The Pit in partnership with LIFT 2016; Greek collective Blitz Theatre Group’s
Late Night, an otherworldy portrait of Europe in crisis combining ballroom dance with recollections of
lost love, and Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker, a riotous assault on the senses celebrating Japanese
subcultures.
Concerts include French icon Juliette Gréco performing as part of her farewell world tour, This Heat
founding members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward joined by a line-up of musical luminaries for
This Is Not This Heat, The Nile Project bringing together artists from the eleven Nile countries to
showcase their diverse musical traditions, world renowned pianist Murray Perahia in recital, and
seminal Jamaican musician Ernest Ranglin bidding farewell to the stage with a band that includes
Afrobeat drum hero Tony Allen, Senegalese singer Cheikh Lo, saxophonist Soweto Kinch and pianist
Alex Wilson.
In the foyers, a new commission by Brazilian artist Maria Nepomuceno is on show, while the third
Barbican Exhibition, Designing for a Living City, traces the controversial design of the Barbican Estate
development in the middle of the City of London, focussing on the Barbican flats and featuring original
fittings, archival illustrations, leaflets, brochures, films and photographs. Towards the Mean: Sampling
Britishness, an interactive installation exploring how national identity is determined and defined in a
multi-cultural and globalised society also closes in June. Architects on Stage, a series of talks curated by
the Architecture Foundation in partnership with the Barbican, continues with a discussion on the role of
the City Architect and whether London would benefit from the creation of such a post.
The Cinema programme has several Screentalks includingVs. - The Life and Films of Ken Loach with a
talk by director Louise Osmond, Shakespeare in Love with composer Stephen Warbeck and Harmony
Lessons with director Emir Baigazin. She’s So Giallo: Sirens of 1970s Italian Thrillers pays tribute to
leading ladies of Giallo with screenings of Four Flies on Grey Velvet, One on Top of the Other, The
Frightened Woman and All the Colors of the Dark. Other screenings include Frankenstein with an
introduction by A C Grayling and L’idée (The Idea) with musical accompaniment by the Guildhall’s
Electronic Music Studio and ROLI Seaboard Rise Ensemble.
THEATRE
LIFT 2016
Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe – Phaedra(s)
Thursday 9 – Saturday 18 June 2016, Barbican Theatre
Press night: Friday 10 June 2016, 7.45pm
Embodying one of Greek mythology’s most enigmatic characters, French screen and stage actress
Isabelle Huppert makes a rare London appearance to play Phaedra, her story relocated to a modern
world.
Phaedra burns with illicit desire for her stepson. But even in the closest physical proximity, her loved one
remains as inaccessible as ever.
Krzysztof Warlikowski, Artistic Director of Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr, reconstructs classical plays with a
radical fervour that puts his controversial work at the cutting edge of European theatre. Passionate
about the Greeks, he now turns to a mysterious queen – and her many incarnations. Basing his new
production on the provocative text of Sarah Kane’s Phaedra’s Love and incorporating extracts from J M
Coetzee’s novel Elizabeth Costello, he also introduces fresh material in collaboration with the gifted
Lebanese-Canadian playwright Wajdi Mouawad.
Phaedra(s) is performed in French with English surtitles.
LIFT 2016
Blitz Theatre Group – Late Night
Wednesday 15 – Saturday 18 June 2016, The Pit
Press night: Wednesday 15 June 2016, 7.45pm
What does it feel like to live through the end of an era? Here, among the debris of a dilapidated
ballroom, six performers endlessly dance the waltz, stopping only to share fragmented recollections of a
lost love. There’s music, singing, a drink, some tricks to pass the time, and always the same absurd sense
of waiting.
Devised by Blitz Theatre Group – a contemporary Greek collective who write, direct and act
collaboratively, playing with traditional theatre structures – Late Night has the otherworldly feel of a
David Lynch film. Emotive and poetic, with a quiet stillness and an unsettling quality of confinement, the
piece unfolds to a nostalgic soundtrack. It speaks of the past and the future, of hope and despair, of a
Europe in ruins.
Late Night is performed in Greek with English surtitles.
LIFT 2016
Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker
Wednesday 22 June – Saturday 2 July 2016, The Pit
Press performances: Wednesday 22 June, 6.30pm and 9.30pm
Controlled chaos, orchestrated by a rigorous director, this is Japanese subculture conveyed in all its
multi-coloured, cacophonous, frenetic glory.
Audiences are equipped with rain poncho and ear guards, as twenty-five actors storm the stage and
throw water, confetti and food at them. The company bombard the senses with a precisely
choreographed medley of dance and lip-synched song, including J-pop, anime and even musical
numbers – all sped up.
Paying homage to Japan’s otagei culture – geeky dancing performed by obsessed fans in front of their
singing idols – Tokyo-based artist Toco Nikaido seeks to break down barriers between cast and
audience. Kitted out in rainbow-hued costumes, armed with an abundance of disposable props, her
riotous company finishes the show with a festival-like encore in which the audience is encouraged to get
involved.
Miss Revolutionary Idol Berserker is performed in Japanese and English with English surtitles.
Malthouse Theatre – The Shadow King
Wednesday 22 June – Saturday 2 July 2016, Barbican Theatre
Press night: Thursday 23 June 2016, 7.45pm
Transporting King Lear to the story-rich and resource-laden terrain of northern Australia, The Shadow
King reimagines Shakespeare’s tragedy as a blood-soaked tale of two Indigenous families divided by
land, identity and legitimacy.
Lear is the head of a remote community wrangling over mining rights, inheritance and wealth. Their
story descends into madness and brutality against the distinctive red earth of the Australian outback,
dominated by the imposing presence and blinding lights of a mining truck.
Told through modern English, Kriol languages and a score, including Aboriginal ‘dreamtime’ songs,
performed live by an onstage band, The Shadow King fuses music, new text and video to create
provocative and epic theatre. Following a Best Direction win for Michael Kantor at the 2014 Helpmann
Awards, the production brings together Australia’s foremost Indigenous actors led by Tom E. Lewis.
The Shadow King is part of Shakespeare400.
MUSIC
Juliette Gréco
Monday 13 June 2016, Barbican Hall, 8pm
Chanteuse, actress and French icon, Juliette Gréco will give a rare London performance as part of her
epic farewell world tour Merci, which she embarked on early last year. Gréco will present a crosssection of her best successes, accompanied by her husband (and Jacques Brel's long-time collaborator),
pianist Gérard Jouannest and accordionist Jean-Louis Matinier.
In post-war Paris, Gréco became the famous muse of Saint-Germain-des-Prés to French artists and
existentialists such as Albert Camus, Jean Cocteau, Jacques Brel, Serge Gainsbourg and Jean-Paul
Sartre, who described her as having “a million poems in her voice”. It was also during that time that she
met Miles Davis and fell in love with him. After a period of acting in Hollywood in the 1950s, Juliette
Gréco came back to music in 1960 and has since continued to inspire and discover new talent during a
career stretching over 70 years.
Produced by the Barbican
This Is Not This Heat
Friday 17 June 2016, Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Seminal and experimental rock band This Heat played their first gig in 1976. Now, 40 years later,
founding members Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward are joined by special guests to perform new
interpretations of their music at the Barbican as This Is Not This Heat.
The line-up of music luminaries – who have taken inspiration from This Heat’s legacy – will include
Alexis Taylor, Chris Cutler, Oren Marshall, D.W Robertson, John Edwards, Serafina Steer, Daniel
O’Sullivan, Jenny Moore, James Sedwards, Sarah Anderson, Frank Byng, Luisa Gerstein, Laura Groves,
Alex Ward and Thurston Moore.
This Is Not This Heat has been devised by Charles Bullen and Charles Hayward with Luis Carvajal
Produced by the Barbican and I-D.A Projects with No-Nation
The Nile Project
Sunday 19 June 2016, Islington Assembly Hall, 7.30pm
The Nile Project brings together artists from the eleven Nile countries, showcasing their diverse musical
traditions and the creative potential of transboundary collaborations.
Brought to life in 2013, the project was devised to further musical exchange and dialogue and to raise
awareness of the region’s delicate ecosystem. The collaborative model of the Nile Project Collective is a
blueprint for new ways Nile Citizens can organise themselves to cooperate and further the sustainability
of the Nile Basin.
Since the Nile Project’s inception, varying line-ups of musicians have toured extensively through Africa,
the Middle East and the US, attracting over 60,000 people to their concerts to date. This concert is The
Nile Project’s UK debut and features musicians from Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and
Tanzania.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Kazum and Arts Canteen
Murray Perahia in Recital
20 June 2016, Barbican Hall
One of the world's most respected pianists, Murray Perahia returns to the Barbican for a recital in June.
The programme features:
Haydn Variations in F minor Hob XVIII:6
Mozart Sonata in A minor
Brahms 4 Klavierstücke Op 119
Beethoven Sonata No 29 in B flat 'Hammerklavier ' Op 106
Ernest Ranglin and Friends
+ Nérija
Monday 27 June, Barbican Hall, 8pm
A seminal figure in Jamaican music, Ernest Ranglin bids farewell to the stage with a band that draws
together a musical journey from Jamaica to the UK, the USA and Africa. The line-up features Afrobeat
drum hero Tony Allen, the voice of Senegalese icon Cheikh Lo, saxophonist Soweto Kinch and pianist
Alex Wilson, tracing the sheer musical range of a master musician over some 60 years of reggae, ska,
jazz and explorations into African roots.
Guitarist, producer, and musical svengali, Ernest Ranglin has travelled from the formative days of
Jamaican reggae and ska – with Prince Buster and Bob Marley – to immersion in the melting pot of
1960s London, playing jazz at Ronnie Scott’s, recording with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker and
producing Millie Small’s hit My Boy Lollipop. In the 1970s and 80s he was playing jazz with Monty
Alexander, reggae and dub with Jimmy Cliff and Lee Scratch Perry; and later collaborated with Baaba
Maal and many more, in a career that has taken yet more twists from the 1990s to the present day.
The opening set comes from Nérija, the fast rising all-female band whose heady mix of African and
Caribbean sounds, interspersed with the sounds of a contemporary urban London, is fast catching the
ears of today’s scene.
Produced by the Barbican in association with Serious
London Symphony Orchestra
In June the LSO is conducted by Principal Guest Conductor Daniel Harding in two programmes. 5 June
sees a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No 2 with soprano Miah Persson and alto Anna Larsson and
on 9 June Lisa Batiashvili is soloist in Bartók’s Violin Concerto No 1. That programme is completed
by Dvořák’s Symphony No 8 and the Overture: Othello. Leif Ove Andsnes’ LSO Artist Portrait concludes
on 10 June with a recital featuring music by Sibelius, Beethoven, Debussy and Chopin and on 16 June
LSO Discovery, the Orchestra’s award-winning music education and community programme holds its
annual showcase concert, featuring a variety of groups including young musicians from East London.
The LSO’s 2015/17 season draws to a close with two concerts with LSO Music Director Designate Sir
Simon Rattle. On 26 June he conducts the Orchestra as well as LSO Discovery Choirs and the London
Symphony Chorus in the World Premiere of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ children’s opera The Hogboon,
his last large-scale work. The programme is completed by a performance of Berlioz’s Symphonie
fantastique for which musicians from the Guildhall School play side-by-side with members of the LSO.
And the last concert in the season sees the Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle joined by pianist Krystian
Zimerman as soloist in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No 4, as well as performances of Ives’ The
Unanswered Question and Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 2.
VISUAL ART
Strange and Familiar: Britain as Revealed by International Photographers
Curated by Martin Parr
Until Sunday 19 June 2016, Barbican Art Gallery
Curated by the iconic British photographer Martin Parr, this is a timely consideration of how
international photographers from the 1930s onwards have captured the social, cultural, political and
topographical identity of the UK through the camera lens. Designed by Stirling Prize winning London
based architects Witherford, Watson, Mann, Strange and Familiar presents a vibrant portrait of modern
Britain. The exhibition includes works by some of the leading lights of 20th century photography such as
Henri Cartier-Bresson (France), Bruce Gilden (USA), Raymond Depardon (France), Edith Tudor-Hart
(Austria), Candida Höfer (Germany), Robert Frank (USA), Evelyn Hofer (Germany), Gian Butturini (Italy),
Akihiko Okamura (Japan), Axel Hütte (Germany), Sergio Larrain (Chile), Tina Barney (USA), David
Glodblatt (South Africa), and Hans van der Meer (The Netherlands). An extensive photobook section
brings together an array of rare, new and out-of-print publications by international photographers from
the 1930s to today, constituting a parallel history of Britain alongside the works exhibited.
For full press release and images please visit http://www.barbican.org.uk/StrangeAndFamiliarNews
Imran Qureshi: Where the Shadows are so Deep
Until Sunday 10 July 2016, The Curve
The Barbican has commissioned the award-winning Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi to create a new work
for the Curve. For his first major London commission, Qureshi presents a series of exquisite miniature
paintings, drawing upon the curve as a motif in this tradition. Beginning with gentle scenes of nature, the
sequence of works gradually introduces darker elements, subtly implying the uncertainty of what lies
around the bend. Hung at varying heights along the dramatic 90-metre span of the space, these
delicate, jewel-like paintings lure the visitor in, demanding an altogether different kind of looking.
For full press release and images please visit http://www.barbican.org.uk/ImranQureshiNews
The Barbican Exhibition: Designing for a Living City
Until 16 October 2016, Barbican Foyer
As a celebration of the Barbican’s architectural legacy, this series of changing foyer displays delves into
the site’s heritage, explores hidden facets and offers special insights into the iconic building. The third
display in the Barbican series traces the controversial design of the residential development in the
middle of the City of London, exploring the design of the flats to the very last detail. The display includes
the architects’ Chamberlin, Powell and Bon’s original residential layout and landscape plan from 1971
that comprised the design of more than a hundred different types of flats that would accommodate six
thousand people within 35 acres. It features original fittings, such as the ‘Barbican’ basin, archival
illustrations, leaflets, brochures and films produced to promote the debated Barbican Redevelopment
from 1960s to 1980s and advertised a particular lifestyle and design standards, along with photographs
of the showroom flats, offered by The Corporation of London to middle and higher income groups in
the beginning of 1970s.
Architecture on Stage: City Architects
Monday 6 June 2016, Frobisher Auditorium, 7pm
In contrast to many of the world’s leading cities, London has no City Architect. Nobody is actively
steering the transformation of London’s skyline or the development of its riverfront or taking a strategic
view of countless other planning considerations of relevance to the entire city. A month after London’s
mayoral elections, this event explores what it is that city architects do and asks whether London could
benefit from the creation of such a post.
Speakers include Kristiaan Borret, the City Architect of Brussels and Seung H-Sang, the city architect of
Seoul. The event will be chaired by Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of
Economics. City Architects forms part of Architecture on Stage, a series curated by the Architecture
Foundation in partnership with the Barbican Arts Centre.
This event is generously supported by the Norman Foster Foundation.
Maria Nepomuceno
Tuesday 24 May 2016 to August 2016, Barbican Foyer
Maria Nepomuceno creates a new commission for the Barbican. With its organic form and vibrant
colour, the sculpture draws on the landscapes, materials, techniques and indigenous craft traditions of
the artist’s native Brazil. Suspended from the ceiling on the ground floor, the installation introduces an
exuberant growth into the Barbican’s Brutalist architecture.
Towards the Mean: Sampling Britishness Today
Wednesday 16 March 2016 to Sunday 19 June 2016, Barbican Foyer
An interactive installation exploring how national identity is determined and defined in a multi-cultural
and globalised society. Designed by Marianne Holm Hansen in association with Seth Scott and
electronic musicians from the Guildhall School, the installation questions the idea of identity by having
visitors’ portraits and voices manipulated into an evolving British ‘average’.
CINEMA
Vs. - The Life and Films of Ken Loach (15*) + ScreenTalk
Thursday 2 June 2016, Cinema 3, 6.30pm
Louise Osmond (Deep Water, Dark Horse) directs this candid documentary on one of Britain’s most
celebrated and controversial filmmakers, Ken Loach. Following the director as he prepares to release
his final major film I, Daniel Blake later this year, Osmond looks back at the trials and tribulations of
Loach’s fifty year career, from his roots in television to his award winning features. Featuring interviews
his friends and collaborators including Cillian Murphy, Melvyn Bragg, Sheila Hancock and Ricky
Tomlinson, this is a funny and provocative account of Loach's life and career.
Silent Film and Live Music Series
L’idée (The Idea) PG + Rare Silent Animations + live musical accompaniment by the Guildhall’s
Electronic Music Studio and ROLI Seaboard Rise Ensemble
Sunday 5 June 2016, Cinema 1, 3pm
Animated with paper cut-outs and with one of the first uses of electronic music on soundtrack Berthold
Bartosch’s poetic, tragic allegory follows a young woman who tries to spread her artist-creator’s
message.
(France 1932 Dir Berthold Bartosch 30 min Programme running time: 75 mins) (tbc)
She’s So Giallo: Sirens of 1970s Italian Thrillers
7 - 28 June 2016, Cinema 3, 8.30pm
Conceived as a tribute to the leading ladies of Giallo, and as a challenge to the genre’s reputation for
unrepentant misogyny, this season showcases four classic and under-screened examples of vintage
Italian horror, presented on rare 16mm and 35mm prints. Films include Four Flies on Grey Velvet (7
June), One on Top of the Other (14 June), The Frightened Woman ( 22 June), All the Colors of the Dark
(28 June)
Curated by Cigarette Burns Cinema
Oscar® Winning Scores (in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences )
Shakespeare in Love15 + Screentalk with Stephen Warbeck
Wednesday 15 June, Cinema, 7pm
Stephen Warbeck joins us to discuss his Oscar winning score, alongside his other work in theatre and
film. Joseph Fiennes stars as the playwright who is inspired to write one of his most famous plays after
falling in love with an actress (Gwyneth Paltrow).
(UK 1998 Dir John Madden 119 min)
Science on Screen: Frankenstein + Introduction by A C Grayling
Tuesday 21 June 2016, Cinema 1, 6.15pm
As part of the on-going Science on Screen series at Barbican, A C Grayling introduces this screening of
James Whale’s classic horror and asks what the future holds for genetically engineered humans. What
are the possibilities, the potentials, the risks and why are people afraid?
New East Cinema:
Harmony Lessons 15* + ScreenTalk with Director Emir Baigazin
Wednesday 29 June, Cinema 2, 6.30pm
A school in rural Kazakhstan becomes the setting for this widely acclaimed debut feature by Emir
Baigazin. A drama that is at once lyrical, visceral and psychologically gripping, it explores the
dehumanising force of everyday violence, bullying and humiliation and its human cost.
(2013 Kazakhstan/Germany/France Dir Emir Baigazin 115min)
-ENDSNotes to Editors
Press Information
For further information, images or to arrange interviews contact:
Lorna Gemmell, Head of Communications, +44 207 382 7147, [email protected]
Nick Adams, Communications manager, +44 207 382 5274, [email protected]
Sagar Shah, Communications Officer, +44 207 382 7321, [email protected]
Public information
Box office: 0845 120 7511
Barbican newsroom
All Barbican Centre press releases, news announcements and the Media Relations team’s contact details
are listed on our website at www.barbican.org.uk/news/home
About the Barbican
A world-class arts and learning organisation, the Barbican pushes the boundaries of all major art forms
including dance, film, music, theatre and visual arts. Its creative learning programme further underpins
everything it does. Over 1.5 million people pass through the Barbican’s doors annually, hundreds of
artists and performers are featured, and more than 300 staff work onsite. The architecturally renowned
centre opened in 1982 and comprises the Barbican Hall, the Barbican Theatre, the Pit, Cinemas One,
Two and Three, Barbican Art Gallery, a second gallery The Curve, foyers and public spaces, a library,
Lakeside Terrace, a glasshouse conservatory , conference facilities and three restaurants. The City of
London Corporation is the founder and principal funder of the Barbican Centre.
The Barbican is home to Resident Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra ; Associate Orchestra, BBC
Symphony Orchestra ; Associate Ensembles the Academy of Ancient Music and Britten Sinfonia , and
Associate Producer Serious . Our Artistic Associates include Boy Blue Entertainment , Cheek by Jowl and
Michael Clark Company . International Associates are Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam ,
New York Philharmonic , Los Angeles Philharmonic , Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and Jazz at Lincoln
Center .
Find us on Facebook | Twitter | Flickr | YouTube