Barbican Centre, 2012 Season

London's Barbican Centre is 30 this year, and with a special Olympics subsidy boost as the world's eyes turn to the British capital this summer, it aims to be as lovely inside as it is famously unlovely outside. Film beauties Cate Blanchett and Juliette Binoche appear live on stage and theatre giants Pina Bausch, Philip Glass and Shakespeare are celebrated in a season of prominent internationalism. Peter Sellars, Toni Morrison, Yukio Ninagawa, Krzysztof Penderecki and Chick Corea are among many other world names invited to EC2 over the season.

Three key British theatre companies are commissioned on hellish themes: Julian Crouch’s Improbable in The Devil and Mister Punch, Complicite in a new production of Bulgakov’s infernal story The Master and Margarita, and Cheek by Jowl return to Jacobean tragedy with John Ford's tale of doomed incest, 'Tis Pity She's a Whore. A full retrospective of Bausch’s danceworks inspired by world cities fills the summer period before the London Olympics, and Leeds’ Opera North brighten up August with a new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel.

Music highlights include an array of top New York talent, including Nico Muhly and Sufjan Stevens, The Floating Palace, an evening of collaborations led by Robyn Hitchcock and including KT Tunstall and Martin Carthy, appearances by jazz giants Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis, and a musical and visual centenary commemoration of the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Press nights first night unless otherwise stated.

Theatre and Dance

12-14 January, Survivor, Hofesh Shechter & Antony Gormley, Barbican Theatre (70 mins). An original score by talented Israeli choreographer-composer Shechter, set within a visual landscape by sculptor Gormley, with a 30-strong live band, 200 drummers and five male performers inhabiting the stage.

17-21 January, Translunar Paradise, Theatre Ad Infinitum 2012, the Pit (70 mins). London International Mime Festival.

18-21 January, L’Immédiat, Cie L’Immédiat / Camille Boitel (pictured left), Barbican Theatre (60 mins). London International Mime Festival.

24-28 January, 2 Dimensional Life of Her, Fleur Elise Noble, the Pit (40 mins). London International Mime Festival. Performed, conceived, directed and designed by Fleur Elise Noble.

2-4 February, The Long Count, by Aaron Dessner, Bryce Dessner and Matthew Ritchie, Barbican Theatre. A multimedia spectacle about the beginning of time by twin brothers Bryce Dessner and Aaron Dessner, of acclaimed American rock band The National, and British-born visual artist Matthew Ritchie. The title is a reference to the Mayan calendar of the same name that features in the creation myth Popol Vuh. Aaron and Bryce Dessner were born in Cincinnati in 1976, the year the Cincinnati Reds beat the Yankees to win their second back-to-back World Series of baseball. Their interest in the 1976 event and the rituals of baseball form a counterpoint to Ritchie’s interest in the Mesoamerican ball game in Popol Vuh, the creation myth of the Maya.

2-25 February, The Devil and Mister Punch, Improbable, the Pit (85 mins). Devised by Julian Crouch and the Company, a version of Punch and Judy but as presented by a pair of broken vaudevillians reduced to presenting a puppet show that goes wildly off-course. Featuring a lush score of bass fiddle, gin parlour piano, metronome and bells, the show reveals a shadowy world inhabited by crocodiles, the devil and more, all performed on a theatrical wood-panelled set. Press night 7 February.

16 February-10 March, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Cheek By Jowl, Silk Street Theatre. John Ford’s 400-year-old tragedy about a brother and sister’s incestuous descent into hell is directed by Declan Donnellan, designed by Nick Ormerod. Age guidance 16+. Press night 21 February.

3-5 March, Rawums(:), florschütz & döhnert, the Pit (30 mins). Age guidance 2–5 years. High-quality international theatre for children from Germany, this charming and ingenious trip to the wonderland of gravity for very small children explores the laws of physics – falling and flying, lightness and heaviness - in a beautifully poetic form of physical theatre.

3-4 March, Barbican Weekender. A free weekend of art, dance, music, theatre and film for all ages in the Barbican foyers. Urban Stories, Barbican Centre



15 March-7 April, The Master and Margarita, Complicite/Simon McBurney, Barbican Theatre (180 mins + interval). Adapted from the novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, directed by Simon McBurney in a new English-language adaptation. Age guidance 14+ (contains nudity). Press night 20 March.

13-29 April, Gross und Klein (Big and Small), Sydney Theatre Company, Barbican Theatre (180 mins incl interval). Cate Blanchett (pictured above right) stars in Botho Strauss’s German play in an English text by Martin Crimp, about a Wonderland-world beyond a rabbit hole where Lotte (Blanchett) attempts to fit into society. Age guidance 14+. Press night Saturday, 14 April.

4-13 May, Einstein on the Beach, An Opera in Four Acts, Robert Wilson and Philip Glass, Barbican Theatre (300 mins, no interval) - the audience is invited to enter and exit at liberty during the performance. Wilson and Glass’s huge, groundbreaking 1976 opera has its first UK performances with choreography by American luminary Lucinda Childs (pictured below).

29 May-2 June, Cymbeline, Ninagawa Company, Barbican Theatre (180 mins). The fêted Japanese director Yukio Ninagawa, renowned for his visually powerful staging, brings this new Japanese-language production of Shakespeare's romance tragedy.

6 June-9 July, Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch: World Cities 2012, Barbican and Sadler’s Wells.
This month-long season of international co-productions is presented by Sadler’s Wells and the Barbican to celebrate the global focus of the Olympic year and one of the most influential choreographers in dance, Pina Bausch. It shows 10 international co-productions exploring 10 global locations in India, Brazil, Italy, Hong Kong, United States of America, Hungary, Turkey, Chile and Japan. Embarked upon by Bausch in 1986, the landmark series of works was created at the invitation of the different cities.

• 6-7 June, Viktor (Rome), SWT: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with Teatro Argentina di Roma which premiered on 14 May, 1986.
• 9-10 June, Nur Du (Only You), (Los Angeles), Barbican: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with the University of California in Los Angeles, the Arizona State University, the University of California in Berkeley, the University of Texas in Austin, Darlene Neel Presentations, Rena Shagan Associates, Inc and The Music Center Inc which premiered on 11 May, 1996.
• 12-13 June, …Como el musguito en la piedra, ay si, si, si (Santiago de Chile), SWT: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with Festival International de Teatro Santiago a Mil in Chile and the support of Goethe-Institut Chile in cooperation with Andres Neumann International which premiered on 12 June, 2009.
• 15-16 June, Ten Chi (Saitama), Barbican: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with Saitama Prefecture, Saitama Arts Foundation and Nippon Cultural Centre which premiered on 8 May, 2004.
• 18-19 June, Der Fensterputzer (Hong Kong), SWT: "The Window Washer", a piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with the Hong Kong Arts Festival Society and Goethe-Institut Hong Kong which premiered on 12 February, 1997.
• 21-22 June, Bamboo Blues (Kolkata), Barbican: A piece about Calcutta by Pina Bausch in co-production with Goethe-Institut in India which premiered on 18 May, 2007 (pictured above right © Angelos Giotopoulos/SWT)
• 24-25 June, Nefés (Istanbul), SWT: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with the International Istanbul Festival and the Istanbul Foundation of Arts and Culture which premiered on 21 March, 2003.
• 28-29 June, Água (São Paulo), Barbican: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with Brazil, Goethe-Institut São Paulo and Emilio Kalil which premiered on 12 May, 2001.
• 1-2 July, Palermo, Palermo (Palermo), SWT: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with Teatro Biondo Stabile, Palermo and Andres Neumann International which premiered on 17 December, 1989.
• 8-9 July, Wiesenland (Budapest), SWT: A piece by Pina Bausch in co-production with Goethe-Institut Budapest and Théâtre de la Ville, Paris which premiered on 5 May, 2000.

Summer 2012 (dates tba), You Me Bum Bum Train, Canary Wharf location (tba). Created by Kate Bond and Morgan Lloyd.

19-20 July, Desdemona, Toni Morrison / Rokia Traoré / Peter Sellars, Barbican Hall. In response to Peter Sellars’ 2009 Othello, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison and Malian singer/songwriter Rokia Traoré collaborate to create an intimate conversation between Shakespeare’s Desdemona and her African nurse, Barbary. Toni Morrison writes the stories, Rokia Traoré the songs and she also sings the role of Barbary in this Barbican co-commission which is directed by Peter Sellars.

15 August-15 September, Carousel, Opera North, Barbican Theatre (170 mins) – see website for schedule. Leeds’ Opera North return to the Barbican for their first long run with a new production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical drama Carousel, using a full-scale Broadway orchestra and operatic-trained voices, is directed by Jo Davies and designed by Antony Ward. A love story about the tragedy of unspoken feelings and one man's struggle to redeem himself after a lifetime of mistakes, this classic American musical contains some of the most powerful music written for the stage, including "You'll Never Walk Alone" and "June is bustin' out all over". Press nights 16, 17, 20 August.



20-29 September, Mademoiselle Julie, Barbican Theatre (150 mins, no interval). Juliette Binoche stars as August Strindberg’s tragic heroine who fatally crosses class borders, in a French-language version directed by Frédéric Fisbach. Age guidance: 14+.

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