Simon McBurney and his Complicite company have won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play for A Disappearing Number. The play, which ran at the Barbican in autumn 2007, is an exploration of the extraordinary mathematical collaboration between the Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan and Cambridge mathematician GH Hardy.
Using Complicite’s renowned blend of multi-media and physical storytelling techniques, A Disappearing Number does something which many cynics thought impossible: it makes the world of mathematics utterly compelling. In addition to retelling the startling story of how Ramanujan, an unknown, self-taught man living in India, came up with a host of remarkable mathematical proofs, the play also explores the cultural differences between east and west, and the philosophical power of numbers.
Complicite actress Saskia Reeves, who co-accepted the award, told Official London Theatre: "It’s hard to remember how the process began, it was such a long process. It started out very small, with very few actors and ideas and it slowly became more and more complicated as all of Simon’s work does! We’re very happy, and we’re going to text Simon now. He’ll be very chuffed too."
This victory in the Laurence Olivier Awards completes a hat trick of awards successes for A Disappearing Number which also won Best New Play at the Critics’ Circle Awards and Best Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Other nominees in this category included the National Theatre productions of The Reporter and War Horse, and the Young Vic’s Vernon God Little.
TB
