JUNGLE BOOK reimagined ADELAIDE FESTIVAL 24

 

 

Jungle Book reimagined. Adapted from the story by Rudyard Kipling

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 & 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: Maya Balam MeyongTom Davis-DunnHector FerrerHarry Theadora Foster
Filippo FranzeseBianca MikahilMax RevellMatthew SandifordElpida SkourouHolly Vallis
Jan Mikaela Villanueva.Lani Yamanaka. The Festival Theatre. Adelaide Festival Centre. Adelaide Festival 2024. March 15-16 2024

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

Akram Khan’s work is always nothing short of extraordinary and his current production of Jungle Book reimagined is no exception. Brilliant, vibrant and expressive dancers superbly recreate the world of  Rudyard Kipling’s story of Mowgli (Jan Mikaela Villanueva). Khan’s vision imagines a world where climate change, natural disaster and world conflict have decimated the human race and animals roam the suburbs and institutions of deserted, crumbling cities. In Khan’s version of the popular book Mowgli is a climate change refugee, torn from her mother’s arms while attempting to survive the rising waters and perilous weather patterns. She finds herself in deserted cities occupied by animals and kidnapped by the Bandar-Log, lab monkeys who are desperate to become human. A struggle ensues to kidnap and control Mowgli and learn the secret of becoming human. With the help of Chili the Kite, Bagheera, the albino panther, Baloo the bear and Kaa the rock python, Mowgli is saved and destroys the outcast human who kills Chili with his gun.

Khan, who once played Mowgli as a child in an Indian dance production, recalls the inspiration of his childhood in a production that is magical in its staging and visionary in its telling. He urges humanity, like Mowgli, to end the savagery of the human race and restore the jungle to its former beauty and innocence He pleads for a harmony among species.  His dancers inhabit the characters of their animals, capturing the essence of their movement with remarkable skill and agility. This is the performance of a phenomenal company of dancers, totally absorbed by the nature of their animal, On the Festival Theatre stage, Khan’s imagination assumes epic proportions. Animation conjures a world of projected visions of animals passing through the cityscape. Herds of elephants and giraffes pass across the screen. Mice scurry along the stage’s edge Chili appears in the sky only to be shot down by the solitary human outcast. The feathers of the dead kite float to the earth and other species of birds appear to bear the lifeless body away. This is the magic of storybooks, a world of wonder and imagination.

The entire production with the dancers’ physical transformation into animals, the black and white animation and expressionistic depiction of buildings, underscored by Jocelyn Pook’s atmospheric composition and creatively illuminated by Michael Hull’s lighting design lends the production a cinematic quality.  Audiences are transported beyond their reality and into the world of a fable. Child and adult become one. Human and animal become one and Khan’s incandescent imagination teaches us that we are all inhabitants on this planet, but the human, more than any other species has like Mowgli the power to transform and heal.

Jungle Book reimagined is a theatrical triumph, an inspiring fusion of dance, music, theatre and technology.  It offers hope for the future and a lesson for the present. So as not to be overwhelmed by its imagery and its rich narrative I would suggest that audiences would benefit even more from Kahn and his company’s theatrical gift by reading the synopsis before attending the production. Bettter still, read the story and marvel at Kipling’s hope for humanity and then be thrilled and uplifted by Akram Khan’s Jungle Book reimagined  

 

Additional Credits 

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 Director Zeynep Kepekli 
Technical Manager Michael Cunningham 
Touring Production Manager & Prop Maker Marek Pomocki 
Lighting Engineer Stephane Dejours 
Sound Engineer Philip Wood 
Video Technician & Projectionist Matthew Armstrong 
Technical Stage Manager Samuel Collier 

Images Camilla Greenwell & Ambra Vernuccio