The Encounter

More than twenty years ago, English actor, writer and director Simon McBurney was handed a book called Amazon Beaming (1991), written by Petru Popescu. It was an account of National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre's expedition to the Javari Valley, deep in the rainforests of South America, to locate the source of the Amazon.

McIntyre landed at a small lake in the Apurímac region of Peru, which was later named Laguna McIntyre. More importantly, it was during this journey that he encountered the Mayoruna people - an encounter that was to change his life, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus.

McBurney knew straightaway that one day, in one way or another, he would do something with this book. Now, after a long period of research, this journey is the inspiration for TheEncounter, a performance with his theatre company Complicite. Using only his body and voice, a handful of props, light projections, a sound design by Gareth Fry and extraordinary, innovative sound technology, McBurney takes the audience on an imaginative journey into the depths of the jungle. The sound technology includes ultra-sensitive microphones, binaural recording equipment (providing an immersive, 3D stereo effect), samplers, voice-distortion and a treasure trove of audio and music recordings, partly field recorded in the South American rainforest. Transmitted direct to the audience through provided headphones, these elements combine to build a deeply immersive, shifting world of sound. Part audio play, part performance and part aural theatre, The Encounter plugs straight into the power of the imagination.

McBurney has been interested in the way the human brain works as a neurological machine, since his 1999 play Mnemonic, which deals with the function of memory. In an interview for the Edinburgh International Festival he said: ‘The research I did for Mnemonic led to all kinds of questions about the nature of our consciousness. While The Encounter is not exactly about consciousness, consciousness is a key thought behind it.'

McBurney compares his way of working in the theatre to the composition of music. ’Sometimes I don't know exactly why I put one thing with another. I just like the sound of it, or I just like the look of it. And its meaning becomes apparent [only] afterwards. When they ask me what audiences can expect when they come to see The Encounter, I’m overcome by a slight feeling of panic, because I don't know what to expect myself. But what they can expect is a very direct relationship with me and a very direct relationship with story telling and perhaps a new way of listening.’

After A Disappearing Number (2007), the opera A Dog’s Heart (2010) and The Master and Margarita (2012), The Encounter will mark McBurney's fourth appearance at the Holland Festival. The Encounter had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival last year, receiving an enthusiastic response from press and public alike.