This workshop is currently sold out, but if you would like to join the waiting list for places, please email here.

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Complicité have been world leaders in theatre-making for over 40 years, and we are thrilled to be able to continue our relationship with them here at Makers’ House Hastings.

This three-day workshop — led by Archie Backhouse, one of Complicité’s extraordinary associate artists — will expand beyond the walls of the house to demonstrate and explore many of the games, exercises, and techniques that have formed the backbone of the company’s creative process.

This workshop may be of particular interest to people who crave a way of engaging with forms of theatre that do not begin with a text, or to those who want to engage their bodies in a new way — regardless of physical ability.

This is guaranteed to be an extraordinary few days.

The workshop will take place at Makers’ House Hastings 18th - 20th September from approximately 10am - 5pm each day.

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

We now offer a Pay What You Choose pricing model. This acts as a form of honesty box, allowing you to choose the fee that feels right for your circumstances when you book.

We want our courses to be as accessible as possible, but at the same time, we are committed to paying our artists fairly. If you're able to choose a higher price point, please do — your support will make a world of difference.

If you need help finding reasonably priced accommodation, or you would like to attend the course but the cost is prohibitive, then please email us here so we can discuss local accommodation offers or if our bursary scheme might be able to help.

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About the company -

Complicité is an international touring theatre company led by Artistic Director and co-founder, Simon McBurney. Complicité creates work that strengthens human interconnection, using the complicity between performer and audience that is at the heart of the theatrical experience. The company works across art forms; believing theatre, opera, dance, film, radio, installation, publication and participatory arts can all be sites for the collective act of imagination.

Complicité’s recent work includes: the dance trilogy Figures in Extinction which premiered at Aviva Studios, Manchester in February and is currently on tour, the reimagined Mnemonic which played at the National Theatre in 2024, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Can I Live? and The Encounter, as well as The Dark is Rising; an audio drama for BBC World Service and BBC Sounds based on Susan Cooper’s cult novel. Founded in 1983, they have won over 50 major theatre awards worldwide, and played in more than 40 countries.

Alongside Simon McBurney’s work, the company supports artists through its ‘Mudlarks’ strand; widening access and pro-actively seeking to support talented artists who are under-represented in the theatre sector.

Learning and engagement are central to their work and its award-winning creative engagement programme includes professional development, work in schools and colleges, and participatory projects with a range of communities.

About Archie Backhouse -

Archie is an associate artist with Complicité, an actor and deviser working across stage, screen and audio work. He has an interest in ensemble building, comedy and autobiographical devising. Archie has worked with Complicité since graduating from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where he worked with Marcello Magni, one of Complicité’s co-founders. Archie has delivered workshops in schools, universities, prisons, dance schools, theatres and community spaces and has worked on various Complicité projects including The Dark Is Rising: Young Writers Radio Drama, A Complicité Journey, Mudlarks’ and Complicité Does A-Level.