Photo: Shutterstock Antigone
Mar 4-28 2015
She’s Hollywood’s go-to for demure Frenchness, but for three weeks next spring Juliette Binoche will swap LA for London as she takes the lead in a modern retelling of Sophocles’ ancient tragedy at the Barbican Theatre. It’s the story of a devoted sister who defies her uncle’s rule and buries the body of her soldier brother, who’s been declared a traitor to the state. It’s not yet been revealed how the text will be updated, but expect something bold from Belgian director Ivo van Hove, who last had Barbican audiences rapt back in 2009 with his feature ‘The Roman Tragedies’, which turned Shakespeare’s ‘Julius Caesar’, ‘Coriolanus’ and ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ into a six-hour multimedia spectacle, saw audiences invited on stage at various points and included the deployment of a live snake.
Magnificent Obsessions: The Artist as Collector
Feb 12-May 25 2015
Tune into your inner hoarder with the Barbican’s spring blockbuster ‘Magnificent Obsessions’. Showcasing 14 artists’ collections including Arman’s tribal masks, Damien Hirst’s skulls, Dr Lakra’s bizarre LP covers, Martin Parr’s Soviet space dog memorabilia and Andy Warhol’s kitsch cookie jars, the exhibition will be a veritable cornucopia of all things eccentric, rare and curious.
Photo: Prudence Upton Sounds of the South
Dec 15
Any Mumford & Sons fans still sobbing into their waistcoats over the band’s ‘indefinite hiatus’ would do well to check out this evening of southern tunes, which ought to make the Brit-winning indie folk darlings sound as authentic as Foghorn Leghorn singing ‘Oh My Darling, Clementine’. Musicians from cult Canadian alt-folk troupe The Be Good Tanyas, psych folksters Megafaun and Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon are among the 14-piece ensemble. They’ll be dipping into gospel, blues, country and bluegrass as they pay tribute to the work of American music pioneer Alan Lomax, the man who introduced Bob Dylan to the folk scene. Expect foot-stomping beats, clap-along choruses and a whole lot of facial hair.
Photo: Shutterstock Hamlet
Aug 6 2015-Oct 31 2015
Such is the profile of otter-faced actor Benedict Cumberbatch that you could give him a walk-on part in a play about stamp collecting and still guarantee a queue down the road come opening night – booking for this 12-week run opens a year in advance. Not that Cumberbatch (who’ll tackle Shakespeare’s great Dane for the first time) is the only hot property involved with the production – direction comes from Lyndsey Turner, whose work on politically charged play-of-2013 ‘Chimerica’ earned her an Olivier Award for Best Director. Aside from persistent rumours that Gary Oldman could be on for the role of Claudius, little else is known about the production so far. Even so, expect tickets to sell out quicker than you can say ‘Oedipus complex’.
Photo: Heidrun Löhr International Ibsen season
Sep 24-Nov 14
A trio of top theatre companies bring their unique interpretations of three classic Ibsen plays to the Barbican Theatre. First up, it’s Schaubühne Berlin’s take on ‘An Enemy of the People’, a play hinged on a moral dilemma that promises a live band and someone getting a bucket of muck in the face. Following that is Théâtre National de Nice’s ‘Peer Gynt’, which repositions the titular protagonist as an Iggy Pop-esque rocker. Finally, Belvoir Sydney tackle ‘The Wild Duck’, in which family strife plays out in a claustrophobic setting. This could be the pick of the bunch, given director Simon Stone’s track record for honing in on and supersizing the contemporary relevance of classic texts.
Coming up at the Barbican
The centre’s output in recent years has been exceptional, but the best could be yet to come. Here are six blockbusters to look out for in the coming months
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