OUTWITTING THE DEVIL

More about the event:

«As I arrive at the end of my dancing career, I have awakened to a new way of dancing. And that is to dance my ideas through the bodies of others, including older dancers, who carry their histories and complex emotional experiences within them. But what remains unchanged is my passion for exploring old and new myths in the context of our times» – Akram Khan

Stirring classical and contemporary, internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Akram Khan explores our oldest rituals and traditions in the midst of our ever-changing planet. Inspired by a newly discovered fragment of the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the world’s earliest surviving great works of literature, Akram’s new work brings together a superb ensemble of six international artists to perform a concentrated epic about ritual and remembering. In a landscape of broken tablets and fallen idols, the six characters trade their remaining wealth and stories, seeking to make whole the fragments of ancient knowledge lost and forgotten over time. «Outwitting the Devil» invites us all to the table where life, death and our half-remembered myths are the bread we break together.

Artistic Director/Choreographer Akram Khan

Dramaturg Ruth Little
Lighting Designer Aideen Malone
Visual Designer Tom Scutt
Original Music Score and Sound Design Vincenzo Lamagna
Costume Designer Kimie Nakano
Writer Jordan Tannahill
Rehearsal Director and Coach Mavin Khoo

Performed by Ching-Ying Chien, Jasper Narvaez, Dominique Petit, James Vu Anh Pham, Mythili Prakash, Sam Asa Pratt

Executive Producer Farooq Chaudhry
Technical Manager Tina Fagan
Stage Manager Florian Stagliano
Lighting Engineer Stéphane Déjours
Sound Engineer Phil Wood
Project/Tour Manager Mashitah Omar
LED Light Tube manufactured and supplied by Light Contrast Ltd

Original material devised by Ching-Ying Chien, Andrew Pan, Dominique Petit, James Vu Anh Pham, Mythili Prakash, Sam Asa Pratt

Co-produced by Théâtre de Namur – Centre Scénique, CENTRAL – Centre Culturel de La Louvière, Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, Sadler’s Wells London, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand – scène nationale, COLOURS International Dance Festival 2019 – Stuttgart

Supported by Arts Council England

Akram Khan is an Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells and Mountview in London and Curve Leicester.

Special thanks to Alistair Spalding, Vincent Thirion and Melanie Dumoulin, Patrick Colpé, Meinrad Huber and Eric Gauthier, Olivier Py and Agnès Troly, and the teams at Sadler’s Wells, CENTRAL – La Louvière, Théâtre de Namur, COLOURS Festival and Festival d’Avignon, Tamas Detrich and the team at Stuttgart Ballet, Mr. & Mrs. Khan, Yuko Khan, Aharya Dresses for Mythili Prakash’s costume and all the collaborators and technicians who have worked on the project