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Mnemonic

mnemonic / ni'monik / adj. 1: assisting or intended to assist memory; 2: of memory

In 1991 tourists descending a 3000-metre peak discover a shrivelled naked body emerging from the ice. How old is it? A man alone in his London flat, unable to sleep, searches in his memory. Or does he imagine?

Place and memory collide while stories that are older than the millennium connect to stories that surround us in everyday life. Stories of journeys fragment, reflect, repeat and revolve like the act of memory itself as Mnemonic questions our understanding of time, our capacity to distort history and our attempts to retell the past.

Katrin Cartlidge Foundation
Katrin, who tragically died on 7 September 2002, was one of the original creators of Mnemonic and every performance of the 2002/03 tour was dedicated to her memory. The foundation was set up after her death to support and nurture a young director/writer of promise, providing support to those young people Katrin might have encouraged had she lived and helping to keep her energy alive. For more details and to donate to the foundation, please contact us.

Paul Taylor - The Independent, 13 January 2003

'Once seen, never forgotten. No show in our time could claim that more fittingly...' read article

Charles Spencer - The Daily Telegraph, 8 January 2003

'By a nice irony, the start of Mnemonic was seriously delayed by a memory failure on the part of Theatre de Complicite's computer system. Emerging from the production after two brilliantly beguiling hours, I wondered if I might be suffering from memory failure myself. Rack my brains though I might, I cannot think of a more imaginative, enthralling or moving devised show than this. Only the work of Robert Lepage runs it close...' More

Lyn Gardner - The Guardian, 8 January 2003

'When we make a memory we make a connection...' read article

Simon McBurney - The Guardian, 1 January 2003

'I am in a cafe in Paris. Around me waiters are encouraging us to vacate the tables for lunch. I try to write. Tonight will be the last night of Complicite's European tour of our play Mnemonic...' read article

Simon McBurney - Director, Mnemonic

'Transformation, or the transforming nature of theatre is something that is essential. To be able to evoke another world through the simplest of means is not only marvellous, but, I think, part of the meaning of theatre. ...' More

Opened July 1999 Lawrence Batley Theatre Huddersfield. Toured to Cambridge Corn Exchange, Newcastle Playhouse, Oxford Playhouse, Salzburg Festival, Riverside Studios London. 2001 revival toured to National Theatre London, Mercat de los Flores Barcelona, Bobigny MC93 Paris, New York off-Broadway season at the John Jay College Theater. 2002 revival tour to Bosnian National Theatre Sarajevo, National Theatre of Northern Greece Thessaloniki, Munich Kammerspiele, Dramatyczny Theatre Warsaw, Helsinki Kansallisteatteri, Theatre National Populaire Lyon-Villeurbanne, Bobigny MC93 Paris. 2003 London Riverside Studios.