Mowgli is a girl in this version of The Jungle Book, and British star choreographer Akram Khan has made many more changes to the plot of Rudyard Kipling’s book from 1894 in his sensitive reinterpretation. He has transposed it to a future marked by the effects of climate change. The world is experiencing a great flood; Mowgli escapes it and makes it to the jungle only by a miracle. Khan’s dancers embody the well-known animal characters Bagheera, Baloo, Raksha and the eerie Kaa with mastery. The animals are threatened by a sinister hunter, the monkeys want to become as powerful as the humans. The heroine Mowgli faces a great challenge. Once again, Akram Khan takes up the major issue of the climate crisis and tries to draw attention to the urgency without distressing his audience: with outstanding dance, poetic video animations, music that gets under your skin and texts that move you. Greta Thunberg’s voice sounds as if from a distant past: “How dare you?!”
Director/Choreographer: Akram Khan
Creative Associate/Coach: Mavin Khoo
Writer: Tariq Jordan
Dramaturgical Advisor: Sharon Clark
Composer: Jocelyn Pook
Sound Designer: Gareth Fry
Lighting Designer: Michael Hulls
Visual Stage Designer: Miriam Buether
Art Direction and Director of Animation: Adam Smith (YeastCulture)
Producer/Director of Video Design: Nick Hillel (YeastCulture)
Rotoscope Artists/Animators: Naaman Azhari, Natasza Cetner, Edson R Bazzarin
Rehearsal Directors: Nicky Henshall, Andrew Pan, Angela Towler (tour)
Dancers: Lucia Chocarro, Tom Davis-Dunn, Harry Theadora Foster, Thomasin Gülgeç, Max Revell, Matthew Sandiford, Pui Yung Shum, Fukiko Takase, Holly Vallis, Vanessa Vince-Pang, Luke Watson, Jan Mikaela Villanueva
Assistant Animators: Nisha Alberti, Geo Barnett, Miguel Mealla Black, Michelle Cramer, Jack Hale, Zuzanna Odolczyk, Sofja Umarik
Voice Actors: Tian-Lan Chaudhry, Joy Elias-Rilwan, Pushkala Gopal, Dana Haqjoo, Nicky Henshall, Su-Man Hsu, Kathryn Hunter, Emmanuel Imani, Divya Kasturi, Jeffery Kissoon, Mavin Khoo, Yasmin Paige, Max Revell, Christopher Simpson, Pui Yung Shum, Holly Vallis, Jan Mikaela Villanueva, Luke Watson, 3rd year students of Rambert School.
Producing Director: Farooq Chaudhry
Executive Director: Isabel Tamen
Project Manager: Mashitah Omar
Technical Manager: Tina Fagan
Production Manager: Richard Fagan
Touring Production Manager and Prop Maker: Marek Pomocki
Lighting Engineer: Stephane Dejours
Sound Engineer: Philip Wood
Video Technician and Projectionist: Matthew Armstrong
Swing Technician: Samuel Collier
Co-produced by: Curve Leicester, Attiki Cultural Society - Greece, Birmingham Hippodrome, Edinburgh International Festival, Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay Singapore, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Internationaal Theater Amsterdam, Maison de la Danse / Pôle européen de création – Lyon, National Arts Centre – Canada, New Vision Arts Festival – Hong Kong, Orsolina28, Pfalzbau Bühnen – Theater im Pfalzbau Ludwigshafen, Romaeuropa Festival, Stanford Live / Stanford University, Teatros del Canal – Madrid, théâtre de Caen, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris
With the support of Garfield Weston Foundation, Genesis Foundation and Angela Bernstein CBE
Supported by Arts Council England
Special thanks to: Sue Buckmaster, The Coronet Theatre, University of Roehampton, Mr. & Mrs. Khan, Yuko Khan, Sayuri, Kenzo & Ayana Khan, Amanda Britton, Darren Ellis, Sharon Watson, Ann David, Anda Winters, Ella Roberts, Anna CY Chan and all the students of Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts that took part in creation rehearsals, and all the 3rd year students of Northern School of Contemporary Dance (2021-2022) and 3rd year students of Rambert School (2021-2022) who worked on the R&D residency with Akram.
Jocelyn Pook’s music © Copyright 2022 Chester Music Limited
Singers: Tanja Tzarovska, Melanie Pappenheim, Sushma Soma, Sohini Alam, Voya Zivkovic
Musicians: Jocelyn Pook (piano, viola, voice, keyboards), Mulele Matondo (guitar and sanza), Belinda Sykes (shawm and gralla)
Recording and mixing: Steve Parr
How Dare You? – Greta Thunberg, recording property of United Nations
Blah, blah, blah – speech by Greta Thunberg