A DISAPPEARING NUMBER IN INDIA

Complicite’s
A re a ll looking.
We a
DISAPPEARING tion is
The ques
NUMBER ee
who can s
conceived & directed
by Simon McBurney

inspired by the
life & mathematics of
Indian mathematical
genius S Ramanujan

Winner of the Laurence Olivier Award 2008 for Best New Play
Best New Play, Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards
Best Play, Evening Standard Awards
A DISAPPEARING NUMBER
Why this play?
• A brilliant piece of theatre, directed by
Simon McBurney (O.B.E), one of the
theatrical geniuses of our times

• Inspired by the life of S Ramanujam –

Indian mathematical genius, whose
work continues to inspire and intrigue
the world of mathematics till date

• Regarded as the best ever play on

Mathematics

• Created and performed by Complicite,

celebrated across the Western world
as producers of pathbreaking theatre
 TOUR AT A GLANCE
Mumbai ~ Hyderabad

Aug 8 to 11
Mumbai 4 shows

Aug 21 & 22
Hyderabad 2 shows

• Audience capacity per show: 1000+ x 6 shows

• Interim period between each city required for
cargo movement by road and performance setup
 A DISAPPEARING NUMBER
in India
Under the aegis of :

PRITHVI THEATRE FESTIVAL

India’s premier theatre institution & most prestigious theatre festival

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MATHEMATICS, INDIA

Internationally prestigious mathematics conclave

BRITISH COUNCIL
Cultural partners of the Commonwealth Games
MORE ABOUT THE PLAY

Complicite’s

A DISAPPEARING NUMBER
conceived & directed by Simon McBurney
 A DISAPPEARING NUMBER takes as its starting point the
ery
e of discov story of the most mysterious and romantic mathematical
t y l cite
th e ir usual s ation, Compli en’s collaborations of all time between genius Indian mathematician S.
In is
improv ry of the two m
through to
v e us e d the s u mbers
as a Ramanujam and his English counterpart G.H. Hardy.
ha n n e
partit i o narrativ
work on rd for a wider and cultural Simultaneously a narrative and an enquiry, the production crosses
oa al
springb otional, politic ed, really, in three continents and several histories, to weave a provocative
m st
about e “I’m not intere r, specific
n . ula theatrical pattern about our relentless compulsion to understand.
partitio a s o n e partic s a ys, “bu
t
to r y n e y
this s cBur
c h i n g tale,” M etaphorical
tou
t h e r l a rger m m p l i es , of how Threaded through this pattern of stories and ideas are questions.
in a ra t it i an
a t i o n of wha you – how it’s
appl ic m es this About mathematics and beauty; imagination and the nature of
e a t i v i t y consu man activity, d,
cr
o r d in a rily hu t o u n derstan infinity; about what is continuous and what permanent; how we are
extra lsion lsion
o l u t e compu e th i s compu attached to the past and how we affect the future; how we create
ab s e tim
ut a t t he sam n have tragic
b
rstand
ca and how we love.
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,
q u e it y a
conse es, To
Infin 07
J as p e r R e
e s , 2 Sept 20 A man mourns the loss of his lover, a mathematician mourns her
im
nday T
The Su own fate. A businessman travels from Los Angeles to Chennai
pursuing the future; a physicist in CERN looks for it too. The
mathematician GH Hardy seeks to comprehend the ideas of the
genius Srinivasa Ramanujan in the chilly English surroundings of
Cambridge during the First World War. Ramanujan looks to create
some of the most complex mathematical patterns of all time.

We are all looking. The question is who can see.

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i t e’ s story o f n um bers.
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 ABOUT COMPLICITE
cite
COMPLICITE is a constantly evolving ensemble of performers
t o f C ompli o
h
thoug y. But then e
s and collaborators, led by Artistic Director Simon McBurney.
a y s
alw an ayb
'I have eatre comp usands, m
th ho o.
as my ndreds of t r people to that Complicite's work has ranged from entirely devised work to
u e ts
have h llions of oth me sugges
i a e a re
even m , even the n he audienc e theatrical adaptations and revivals of classic texts. The Company
ll t v
After a ormers and , that we ha t has also worked in other media; radio productions of Mnemonic and
rf ts ha
the pe w in cahoo nding and t
o ta ng John Berger's To The Wedding, a collaboration with The Pet Shop
someh an unders dy, glitteri
ed ud
reach ll i n this m ther. Boys in Trafalgar Square and The Vertical Line, a multi-disciplinary
a e
we are lled life tog
c a 200 2 installation performed in a disused tube station.
thing d ener,
G a r
Lyn
Always changing and moving forward to incorporate new stimuli,
the principles of the work have remained close to the original
impulses: seeking what is most alive, integrating text, music, image
and action to create surprising, disruptive theatre.

There is no Complicite method.

What is essential is collaboration.