A Disappearing Number
On Saturday we saw Complicite’s production “A Disappearing Number”, and Michael Billington’s review of it appeared yesterday. It’s hugely wonderful and, as usual with Complicite, pushes the norms of theatre much, much further than you might expect. Yes, it’s a play, but it makes multimedia an integrated part of it, and so much of it can only be described as “choreographed” rather than “directed”.
Michael Billington’s review sums it up nicely, and there’s only one thing I’d add that he couldn’t: it captures very faithfully the excitement, passion and beauty that mathematicians feel about their subject. There’s a wonderful and hilarious segment at the beginning of the production when an actor reveals that… he’s just an actor(!) and in fact nothing on the stage is real, except for the maths.
And I was greatly relieved to find that the maths is not dumbed down at all for a non-mathematical audience. That alone is a great achievement.
It runs at the Barbican until 6 October. Book tickets if you possibly can.
