Simon McBurney

Simon Montagu McBurney, OBE (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, writer and director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Friends with Money (2006), The Golden Compass (2007), The Duchess (2008), Robin Hood (2010), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (2010), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), Magic in the Moonlight (2014), The Theory of Everything (2014).

Early life

McBurney was born in Cambridge, England. His father, Charles McBurney, was an American archaeologist and academic. Charles McBurney was the grandson of the American surgeon Charles McBurney (who was credited with describing medical sign McBurney's point, though critics have since challenged its existence). His mother, Anne Francis Edmondstone (née Charles), was a secretary; she was British, and of English, Scottish and Irish ancestry. His parents were distant cousins who met during World War II. He studied English literature at Peterhouse, Cambridge, graduating in 1980. After his father died, he moved to Paris and trained for the theatre at the Jacques Lecoq Institute.

The Encounter (Twilight Zone)

"The Encounter" is episode 151 of the American television series The Twilight Zone. First broadcast on May 1, 1964, its racial overtones caused it to be withheld from syndication in the U.S. On January 3, 2016, the episode was finally reaired as part of Syfy's annual Twilight Zone New's Year Eve marathon.

Opening narration

Plot

The story is about the meeting of an American WWII veteran named Fenton (Neville Brand) and a young Japanese-American named Arthur Takamori (George Takei) who comes to Fenton's house looking for work, on a tip from a neighbor. Fenton is gruff, yet cordial, offering Takamori a beer up in his cluttered attic. Takamori is intent on work rather than conversation, but reluctantly agrees to Fenton's offer. In conversation, Arthur states that he changed his name from Taro, and Fenton responds in a subtly racist and hostile manner.

Before Takamori arrived, Fenton had found an old samurai sword. He shows it to Takamori and says he took it off a Japanese soldier whom he killed during the war twenty years earlier. Fenton asks about the inscription on the sword; Takamori claims to not be able to read Japanese. But when Fenton leaves briefly to fetch more beer, Takamori takes hold of the sword and says in an astonished way "I'm going to wax him. I'm going to kill him. Why?"

Complicite

The British theatre company Complicite was founded in 1983 by Simon McBurney, Annabel Arden, and Marcello Magni. Its original name was Théâtre de Complicite. The company is based in London and use extreme movement to represent their work. "The Company's inimitable style of visual and devised theatre [has] an emphasis on strong, corporeal, poetic and surrealist image supporting text" (Stephen Knapper, 2010, Contemporary European Theatre Directors). Its work has been influenced by Jacques Lecoq. The company produced their first work in 1983. In 1985 they won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The company is based in London and use extreme movement to represent their work. Their productions often involve dazzling use of technology, such as projection and cameras, as well as lyrical and philosophical contemplation of serious themes.

The company's lineup changes frequently, though McBurney continues to be the artistic director. Complicite is currently more active as an international touring company than within the UK.

Bryony Kimmings

Bryony Kimmings (born 30 March 1981) is an English live artist based in London. She is associate artist at Soho Theatre, under commission with Complicite and is represented by Avalon Entertainment Ltd.

Bryony creates multi-platform art works to provoke change. Her work mostly centres around 'social experiments' which in the past have included the artist retracing an STI to its source, spending 7 days in a controlled environment in a constant state of intoxication and becoming a pop star invented by a 9 year old.

Bryony’s award winning work has toured across the world. Most recently to Soho Theatre, Antifest (Finland), Culturgest (Portugal), Fusebox Festival (Texas), The Southbank Centre, Melbourne International Comedy Festival (Australia) and Lisinski Operahouse (Croatia).

Kimmings also mentors artists, teaches workshops, writes a popular arts blog, and speaks on panels. In 2014, Bryony Kimmings became a limited company and assembled her office team. The company is set to explore three huge topics looking at Depression, Cancer and social inclusion in the next three years.

War on Cancer

The War on Cancer refers to the effort to find a cure for cancer by increased research to improve the understanding of cancer biology and the development of more effective cancer treatments, such as targeted drug therapies. The aim of such efforts is to eradicate cancer as a major cause of death. The signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971 by then U.S. President Richard Nixon is generally viewed as the beginning of the war on cancer, though it was not described as a "war" in the legislation itself.

Despite significant progress in the treatment of certain forms of cancer (such as childhood leukemia), cancer in general remains a major cause of death 40+ years after this war on cancer began, leading to a perceived lack of progress and to new legislation aimed at augmenting the original National Cancer Act of 1971. New research directions, in part based on the results of the Human Genome Project, hold promise for a better understanding of the genetic factors underlying cancer, and the development of new diagnostics, therapies, preventive measures, and early detection ability. However, targeting cancer proteins can be difficult, as a protein can be undruggable.