OUTWITTING THE DEVIL by Akram Khan

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 Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh's, one of the world’s earliest surviving great works of literature, the piece explores humanity’s efforts to control and tame nature and how nature vengefully destroys humanity. 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.
 
Artistic director/ choreographer: Akram Khan
Dramaturg: Ruth Little
Lighting design: Aideen Malone
Visual design: Tom Scutt
Original music score and sound design: Vincenzo Lamagna
Costume design: Kimie Nakano
Writer: Jordan Tannahill
Rehearsal director: Mavin Khoo
Performed by: Ching-Ying Chien, Jasper Narvaez, Dominique Petit, Mythili Prakash, Sam Asa Pratt, James Vu Anh Pham 
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, Adnrew Pan, Dominique Petit, James Vu Anh Pham, Mythili Prakash, Sam Asa Pratt
Co-produced by: Théâtre de Namur – Centre Scénique, CENTRAL – Centre Culture de La Louvière, Festival D’ Avignon, Théâtre de la Ville – Paris, Sadler’s Wells London, La Comédie de Clermont – scene 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.
 
Identity of the festival
Organizer: Nicosia Municipality
Sponsors:
Gold Sponsor: Deputy Ministry of Tourism
Silver Sponsor: Eurobank, Central Insurance Company
Hospitality Sponsor: The Classic Hotel
Sponsors: Onassis Stegi, Giannos Grammatidis
Air Transport Sponsor: Aegean Airlines
Communication sponsors:
Theatre: Check In
Music: ANT1, Politis
Dance: O Phileleftheros, RIK, in-cyprus, Active
 
THEATRE/ MUSIC/ PARALLEL PROGRAM/ DANCE