Miscellanous

John Berger in Three lives of Lucie Cabrol © Sarah Ainslie, Theatre Complicité 2005

Beside his books and films, John Berger drew, performed, read in public and collaborated on many different projects. Here is a non-exhaustive glance to his miscellanous activities.

Theater, performance

John Berger often collaborated with Simon McBurney, director of Theatre Complicité based in London. Their main collaborations are :

  • 1995 The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol – Simon McBurney adapted this short story extracted from Pig Earth (1979) part of the trilogy Into Their Labours.
  • 1997 To The Wedding – John participated to the adaptation of his own novel published in 1995. More informations on Complicité website
  • 1999 Vertical Line – John participated to this performance with Simon McBurney and Sandra Voe. More informations on Complicité website
  • 2005 Vanishing Point – John wrote this performance with Anne Michaels, they also played in it. More informations on Complicité website
  • 2012 De A à X – Adapted from From A to X (2008) lecture by John Berger, Juliette Binoche and Simon McBurney at Festival d’Avignon. More informations on Festival d’Avignon website
  • 2012 Est-ce que tu dors? – Adapted from Mantegna: Lying down to sleep? (2010) lecture by John Berger and Katya Berger Andreadakis at Festival d’Avignon. More informations on Festival d’Avignon website

« Nothingness is before and absence afterwards. At times it’s easy to confuse the two. »

From A To X (2008)

John Berger and Nella Bielski wrote three theater pieces :

  • A Question of Geography (1987) adapted in English by The Other Place Theater (1987 UK) ; in French by La Criée Théâtre National de Marseille (1984) and by L’Odéon for television (1987 Paris) ; translated in German for Individualitat Magazine (1986 Zurich) and for radio DRS-2 (1988 Bern).
  • Goya’s last portrait (1989)
  • Isabelle: A Story in Shorts (1998)

Plays adapted from John Berger’s novels :

  • To The Wedding – adapted on stage in German with Schauspielhaus (2002 Hamburg) and by Jochen Schoelch with Metropol Theatre (2003 Munich), also as an opera with Hamburgische Staatsoper (2001 Hamburg) ; in Dutch with De Tijd Theater and Bas Paijimans (2003 Antwerp).
  • A Fortunate Man – adapted on stage in French by Théâtre du Rond Point, Nicolas Bouchaud and Eric Didry (2013 Paris and then french and international tour) ; in English by New Perspectives Company and Jack McNamara with Michael Pinchbeck (2017 British and international tour).
  • From A to X – adapted on stage in Dutch with De Tijd Theater (2010 Antwerp) ; in Spanish with Elfo Company (2019 spanish tour).
  • A Seventh Man – adapted on stage in English by Manchester School of Theatre and Michael Pinchbeck (2020 British tour).
  • Short story “Musée du Désir” adapted on stage in French by Daniel Jemmet with L’Avant-Seine (2006 Colombes).
  • Several short stories extracted from John Berger’s trilogy Into Their Labours have been adapted on stage :
    • “The Three Lives of Lucie Cabrol” also known under the nickname “Cocadrille”, from Pig Earth (1979) has been adapted in English with Theatre Complicité (1995 London, then british and international tour) ; in French with Compagnie La Chèvre à Cinq Pattes (2008 Montpellier), with Nouveau Theâtre d’Angers (2001 to 2004), by Gilles Pastor with KastôrAgile (Lyon and French Alpes 2002-2003) and by Yves Prunier with Le temps des Uns, le temps des Autres (2004 Yonne) ; in German by Jochen Schoelch (2002 Munich) and by Hanne Leo Meier with Theater Stans (2009 Switzerland) ; in Dutch by Danny Keuppens with Theater Malpertuis (2003 Belgium and Holland).
    • “Boris” from Once in Europa (1986) has been adapted in French under the name Les Trois Chaleurs by Olivier Perrier and Jean-Paul Wenzel compagnie Les Fédérés (1985 Montluçon and Paris)
    • “The Accordeon Player” from Once in Europa (1986) has been adapted in French by Jacques Bonnaffé (2008 french tour) ; in Dutch by Stef van den Eijinden (2021 dutch and french tour).
    • “Once in Europa” from Once in Europa (1986) has been adapted in German by Martin Huber with Stadtheater (2002 Konstanz) ; in Dutch with Theatre Company Zuur (2010 Rotterdam).
    • Lilac and Flag (1990) has been adapted in English by Paul Zimet with The Talking Band & Perseverance Theatre (1993 Alaska and New York).
    • Various extracts from Into Their Labours (1990) have been adapted in French with La Compagnie des Gens d’Ici (2006 Habère-Poche).

Drawing

Few exhibition catalogues :

  • Entries (2005) and Como crece una pluma (2005) – exhibitions of drawings by Marisa Camino and John Berger in Spain.
  • Par la fenêtre (2009 – exhibition of John Berger’s drawings and Yves Berger’s painting, at Josephski-Neukum gallery, in Issing, Germany)
  • Disparate de Fuendetodos (2013 – exhibition of drawings and texts by John and Yves Berger, in Fuendetodos, Goya’s native place in Spain)

John Berger offered many of his drawings to friends. John Berger Estate is trying to inventory all of them, please contact us if you have information about John Berger’s drawings.

Several John Berger’s books include his drawings : Pages of the Wound (1994), Bento’s Sketchbook (2011), Confabulations (2016)… Same with his collaborations with Katya Berger Titian: Nymph and Sheperd (1996) and Mantegna: Lying Down to Sleep (2010) and with Yves Berger Le Blaireau et le Roi (2010), Par la Fenêtre (with also Emmanuel Favre, 2009), Disparate de Fuendetodos (2013), Desde el taller (with also Emmanuel Favre, 2015), Flying Skirts (2015) and Over to you (2019).

Jim Savage edited the book Berger On Drawing including texts and drawings by John Berger.

John Berger drawing in Ireland 2000

« Drawings offer hospitality to an invisible company which is with us. »











John Berger’s letter to James Elkins,
published in Berger on Drawing (2005)

2000, John Berger drawing in Ireland © John Berger Estate

Dance

Since 2002, John Berger was in touch with Mal Pelo Dance Company directed by Maria Muñoz and Pep Ramis. They started to collaborate together from 2004. We can hear John’s voices or texts in these shows : Testimoni de llops (2006), He visto caballos (2008), Todos los nombres (2010), On Goldberg Variatons (2019), Inventions (2020), Highlands (2023)… More informations on Mal Pelo website.

Iris drawing by John Berger and Flamenco dancers by Tato Olivas for Confabulation’s manuscript © John Berger Estate

Awards

John Berger received many awards in different disciplines, here is a non-exhaustive selection listed by Beverly Bancroft.

John Berger Awards listed by Beverly Bancroft © John Berger Estate

John Berger Awards listed by Beverly Bancroft © John Berger Estate

Miscellanous

In 1999, John Berger lent his voice to GTA (Grand Theft Auto) videogame for one of his character, Albert Crisp, in 1999.

In 2005, Artevents directed by Di Robson and Gareth Evans, produced the major London mixed-media festival John Berger: Here Is Where We Meet. It included readings, performances, discussions, new site-specific work and the first ever retrospective of Berger’s prolific body of work in film and television.

« Without a home evrything was fragmentation. »








From And Our Faces (1984) 1
  1. Quoted as epigraph for Fragments of home – refugee housing and the politics of shelter (2024) by Tom Scott-Smith ↩︎
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JOHN BERGER

Storyteller, essayist, novelist, screenwriter, playwright, painter and critic, John Berger (1926-2017) is one of the most internationally influential writers of the last fifty years. Solo or in collaboration with Jean Mohr for example, he published more than 30 titles, the Booker Prize winning novel G and the best-seller Ways of Seeing. He has also published articles in the most important newspapers around the world.

He used to work and live in Quincy, a small French peasant community, the setting for his trilogy Into their Labours.

Painters, cineasts, writers, dancers, curators have been and are still inspired by his work, this website is a window on these TODAY creations.