Theatre News

Malkovich Plays Serial Killer at Barbican in 2011

| London's West End |

12 March 2010

The Barbican Centre’s 2010/11 programme will include the UK premiere of a ‘dramatised concert’ retelling of the life of an Austrian serial killer, starring Hollywood star John Malkovich.

Titled The Infernal Comedy: Confessions of a Serial Killer, the show, which takes place in the Barbican Hall on 17 June 2011, is based on the story of Jack Unterweger, who murdered at least 11 prostitutes before committing suicide in 1994. It was first staged in 2008 in Santa Monica, California, with Malkovich in the title role.

Written and directed by Michael Sturminger, it consists of eight monologues interspersed with performances of arias by classical composers backed by a baroque orchestra. It was described as “devastatingly absurd and unnerving” by Variety during its 2009 run in Vienna.

Announcing the season, artistic director Graham Sheffield said: “International excellence, innovation, new work, adventure and top names have long been the hallmark of any Barbican arts announcement. This year is no exception … All of this underlines our commitment to providing vituoso programming for the broadest possible audience within and without our walls. We remain at the cutting edge of London’s cultural life as we approach 2012.”

Other theatre highlights include:

Choreographer Michael Clark returns with the next installment of his Come, Been and Gone series, featuring music by David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lour Reed (3-12 June 2010).

The transfer of National Theatre of Scotland’s new version of JM Barrie’s Peter Pan, written by David Greig and directed by John Tiffany, from 12 to 29 May 2010. NTS’s acclaimed Black Watch returns to the Barbican from 27 November 2010 to 8 January 2011.

Beckett prize-winning 2008 participatory show You Me Bum Bum train takes over the LEB building in Bethnal Green from 5 to 24 July 2010.

Complicite’s Shun-kin, directed by Simon McBurney, returns to the Barbican in October 2010.

A new site-specific production by physical theatre specialists Frantic Assembly, Beautiful Burnout, which explores “the brutal world of young Scottish boxers”, runs at York Hall in Bethnal Green in September 2010.

Director Peter Sellars tackles Gyorgy Kurtag’s Kafka Fragments, featuring soprano Dawn Upshaw and violinist Geoff Nuttall, on 11 November 2010.

Robert LePage returns to the Barbican with multimedia production The Blue Dragon, the sequel to his six-hour epic The Dragons’ Trilogy, (which ran at the Barbican in 2005), in February 2011.

Following last year’s Roman Tragedies, Dutch theatre group Toneelgroep Amsterdam return to the Barbican with their adaptations of three Antonioni films – L’Avventura, La Notte and L’Eclisse – in February 2011.

Barbican associates Cheek by Jowl return to the Silk Street Theatre in March 2011 with their Russian ensemble in a new production of The Tempest.

Peter Brook‘s new opera production, an adaptation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, commissioned by the Barbican, comes to the venue in March 2011.