AKRAM KHAN’S JUNGLE BOOK REIMAGINED to premiere at Curve in April 2022

Renowned choreographer Akram Khan will open his brand new production of Jungle Book Reimagined at Leicester’s Curve Theatre from 2-9 April 2022.

Based on the original Rudyard Kipling story, this is a deeply personal interpretation of the piece, complete with an original score.

Directed and choreographed by Khan himself, this new work will be performed by an ensemble of ten dancers. Written by Tariq Jordan, it has music contribution by Anoushka Shankhar, with lighting by Michael Hulls, set design by Tom Scutt, and with the insight of film director Andy Serkis, the visual technology will turn the stage into a magical world that dives into the myths of today.

Embedded in the roots of Jungle Book is the deep threat that mankind poses towards nature. Khan and his team reimagine the journey of Mowgli through the eyes of a refugee caught in a world devastated by the impact of climate change. They will tell the story of how this child will help us to listen again, not to our voices but to the voices of the natural world that we, the modern world, try to silence. Jungle Book Reimagined will speak to all generations as a step to remind, to relearn, to reimagine a new world together.

Khan said: “The Jungle Book’s story has always been close to me. Not only because I had inhabited the role of Mowgli in an Indian dance production as a young boy, but more because of the three deep lessons it held within it, that I have since carried with me all my life - the lessons of commonality between species, the binding interdependence between humans, animals and nature and, finally, a sense of family and our need to belong.

“We are now living in unprecedented and uncertain times, not only for our species but for all species on this planet. And the root cause of this conundrum is because we have forgotten our connection to our home, our planet. We all inhabit it, we all take from it, and we all build on it, but we have forgotten to return our respect for it. So I believe that we must make changes from the grass roots up if we are to see a brighter future. And so I feel compelled to share the story – lovingly known as The Jungle Book – with children and adults from all cultures, in order to re-learn what we, as a species, have so conveniently forgotten. And I believe that the strongest and deepest way to tell this story is through the magic of dance, music and theatre.”

Tickets will go on sale in the coming months.