The Masks of the Jacques Lecoq School – Toward the structures of play

To celebrate its 70th anniversary, the Jacques Lecoq School (École internationale de théâtre Jacques Lecoq), in partnership with Complicité, is offering a unique week-long masterclass for theatre professionals. 

Led by Jos Houben; long-time Complicite collaborator and former student, now teacher at Lecoq and  François Lecomte, fellow teacher at Lecoq, with a special day of collaborative exchanges featuring Complicite’s Artistic Director Simon McBurney and additional members of the Jacques Lecoq School team.

Dates: Monday 28 September – Saturday 3 October 2026, 10.00 – 17.00
Venue: Siobhan Davies Studio, 85 St George’s Road, London SE1 6ER
Fee: £720

Masterclass content
Mask work is one of the cornerstones of Jacques Lecoq’s practice; enlarging and structuring performance. It facilitates play, while encouraging clarity and precision in movement and voice. It’s also useful in distilling the essence of the material you are working with. The various types of masks map the journey through the Lecoq School’s curriculum, challenging actors in the depth and scope of both their ideas and performances.

This masterclass explores theatrical creation through the school’s masks, sharing the strength and enduring relevance of this teaching style. The workshop will trace the path between the outside space and the inside experience: from the neutral mask, a mask of calm and openness, to the smallest mask of all, the red nose of the clown. It is a journey that is constantly shifting, passing through the dramas and conflicts embodied by silent, expressive masks and the larger than life characters of Commedia dell’Arte.

Participants will be introduced to the school’s pedagogy, which provides theatre makers with the foundations and tools they need to bring greater freedom and openness to their artistic practice.  

Jacques Lecoq was hugely influential for the founding members of Complicité, with many of the company’s ensemble having studied directly under him, and the school’s methodology continues to shape the company’s work to this day. It is a way of working that doesn’t conform to one particular style, and this week-long masterclass will celebrate 70 years of international collaboration through the Lecoq School.

The workshop is open to theatre makers, directors, choreographers, designers from around the world with an established practice. 

Jos Houben
Jozef (Jos) Houben (b. Bruxelles 1959) is internationally acclaimed as an artist in Comedy, Physical Theatre and Music Theatre. Performing, writing, teaching, and directing worldwide for the past 30 years he has worked with many leading international organisations and artists such as Peter Brook, Simon McBurney, Georges Aperghis, Jean-François Peyret, The National Theatre London, L’Opera Comique de Paris, L’Opéra de Caen, L’Opéra de Rennes, the RSC. He was comedy director for West End productions including Sunshine Boys, Calendar Girls, The Full Monty, Pride and Prejudice (sort of..). Since 2000, he has worked as a teacher at the Ecole Internationale Jacques Lecoq. He is a regular professor at the Hochschule for Music und Darstellende Kunst in Stuttgart and also teaches master classes throughout the world at international festivals, circus and theatre schools, and universities. His hit one-man show The art of laughter has travelled the world for the last 20 years.

François Lecomte
Founder of Tooth and Nail Theatre Company, François’ research lies in devising original work that blends narrative and acrobatic movement in a striking visual language. He has a keen interest in collaborating with practitioners across various art forms to explore new avenues of movement, including sculptors, puppeteers, and working with circus, acrobatics and tumbling companies. His award-winning work, Parlour Games (2015), Hummingbird (2016), Thread (2018) has toured internationally and received critical acclaim. Alongside his work directing and performing, he teaches master classes at universities and drama schools around the world. In 2019, François joined the pedagogical team at the Ecole Internationale Jacques Lecoq, where he teaches movement, acrobatics and improvisation.

Simon McBurney
Actor, writer and director Simon McBurney is one of the most innovative, mercurial and influential theatre-makers working today. In 1983, he co-founded the company Complicité and since then all his work has been made through a deeply researched and highly collaborative process which fuses a profound belief that all aspects of the theatre should challenge the limits of theatrical form.

Figures in Extinction, the culmination of Simon’s four-year, cross-continental collaboration with choreographer Crystal Pite for Nederlands Dans Theater premiered last year. This is the first time Simon has created a work for a dance company exclusively. In 2024 Mnemonic returned at London’s National Theatre to critical acclaim, 25 years since it first debuted. The award-winning The Encounter (2015) was described as ‘one of the most fully-immersive theatre pieces ever created’ by the New York Times. In 2021, he co-directed Fehinti Balogun’s Can I Live?; a vital digital performance about the climate catastrophe.

As well as writing and creating original works, Simon has brought great plays and adaptations to the stage, most recently, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (2022). He also adapted Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising into a 12-part dramatisation for radio alongside author Robert MacFarlane for BBC World Service in 2022. And this year, he directed Anne Carson’s one-act radio play I Don’t Do Innocents for The Paris Review.

Simon’s opera work includes: A Dog’s Heart (2010), The Magic Flute (2012), The Rake’s Progress (2017), Wozzeck (2020) and Khovanshchina (2025).

How to Apply
If you are interested in taking part, please send your CV with a photo and a short statement (max 500 words) telling us why you would like to take part and how you hope it will influence your practice. Alternatively, you are welcome to send us a video or audio track no longer than 3 minutes. Please send your application to creativeengagement@complicite.org with ‘The Masks of Lecoq School’ in the subject line.

A limited number of half price bursary places are available for applicants who would otherwise be unable to attend this workshop due to financial circumstances. To apply for a bursary place, please note in your statement if you are receiving Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance or other financial support.

Please let us know if you have any access requirements. If any questions regarding access please email creativeengagement@complicite.org.

The deadline for applications is: 09.00 on Monday 3 August 2026

We will reply to all applicants by end of day Friday 7 August 2026, notifying them of the outcome of their application.

You must be 18 or older to participate.