Complicite and Simon McBurney's hit show The Encounter is to be broadcast live from the Barbican, London, at 7.30pm on Tuesday 1 March.

In 1969 Loren McIntyre, a National Geographic photographer, found himself lost among the people of the remote Javari Valley in Brazil. It was an encounter that was to change his life, bringing the limits of human consciousness into startling focus. 

Inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu, The Encounter traces McIntyre’s journey into the depths of the Amazon rainforest, incorporating innovative technology into a solo performance to build a shifting world of sound.

First seen at the Edinburgh International Festival, and now enjoying a sell-out run at the Barbican before continuing on a UK and international tour, The Encounter has been acclaimed as 'the year's most mind-blowing piece of theatre' (Time Out), with the Financial Times declaring it 'a tour de force that shows contemporary theatre at its most immersive and thought-provoking’.

See the trailer for the live stream below - and keep an eye on our blog, The Play Ground, on Monday, where we'll be posting further information about the how to watch along. For now, you can buy the script - which includes 32 colour pages of production stills, behind-the-scenes photos, and essays about bringing the show to life - via our website here.

The winner of the 2016 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize was announced yesterday (22 February), with the award going to Lynn Nottage for her play Sweat.

Sweat, which premiered in July 2015 as part of Oregon Shakespeare Festival, explores America’s industrial decline at the turn of the millennium with a look inside a Pennsylvania town whose people struggle to reclaim what’s lost, find redemption and redefine themselves in a new century. It was acclaimed by The New York Times as 'an extraordinarily moving drama [which] hurtles toward its conclusion with the awful inevitability of Greek tragedy.'

Lynn Nottage's last play to be staged in the UK, Intimate Apparel, a multi-award-winning play about the empowerment of a black seamstress in New York City in 1905, received its UK premiere at the Theatre Royal Bath in 2014 before transferring to Park Theatre, London, the same year. She won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for her play Ruined.

The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize is the oldest and largest prize awarded to women playwrights. Established in 1978, the Prize is given annually to recognize women who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre. The winner receives $25,000 a signed print by artist Willem de Kooning, while all other finalists are each given an award of $5,000. Four other Nick Hern Books writers were shortlisted for the 2016 Prize: Sam Holcroft (Rules for Living), Anna Jordan (Yen), Suzan-Lori Parks (Father Comes Home From the Wars Parts 1, 2 & 3) and Bea Roberts (And Then Come The Nightjars).

This marks the fourth year in a row that an NHB writer has won the Prize, following Tena Štivičić (3 Winters) in 2015, Lucy Kirkwood (Chimerica) in 2014, and Annie Baker (The Flick) in 2013. Other NHB winners include Caryl Churchill, Elizabeth Kuti and Chloë Moss.

The Theatre503 Playwriting Award provides an incredible opportunity for playwrights at all levels to be recognised for writing an outstanding, original piece of work for the stage.

Entries are now open until 29 February. The winner of the award will receive a £6000 prize, a guaranteed production of their play at Theatre503, and their script published by Nick Hern Books.

To help you get inspired for your entry, we're offering 25% plus free UK p&p on a selection of Theatre503 plays - click here to see the full list and more info on how to claim the discount.