Outwitting the Devil

World première 13. julij 2019, Theaterhaus Stuttgart
Running time 1 hour 20 minutes. No intermission.
 

Artistic director and choreographer Akram Khan
Dramaturg Ruth Little
Lighting designer Aideen Malone
Visual designer Tom Scutt
Composer and sound designer Vincenzo Lamagna
Costume designer Kimie Nakano
Writer Jordan Tannahill
Creative associate and coach Mavin Khoo
Rehearsal directors Mavin Khoo, Azusa Seyama/Angela Towler
Executive producer Farooq Chaudhry
Technical manager Tina Fagan
Production manager Rich Fagan
Stage manager Russel Parker
Lighting engineer David Salter
Sound engineer Peter Thomas
Project/Tour manager Mashitah Omar
Tour Manager Assistant Svitlana Bil

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

Performers
Mythili Prakash/Pallavi Anand, Luke Jessop, Jasper Narvaez, Louis T. Partidge, Elpida Skourou, François Testory

Co-producers 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, Attiki Cultural Society – Athens

With support from Arts Council England

Outwitting the Devil is inspired by a fragment of the twelve broken clay tablets, which together make up one of the world’s oldest great works of literature, the ancient Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. Akram Khan’s new work embodies a violent chapter in young Gilgamesh’s life, read and recalled by his older, dying self. It tells the story of Gilgamesh’s domestication of and friendship with the wild man Enkidu, their journey to the vast Cedar Forest, home to wild beings and spirits, and the slaughter of its guardian Humbaba. Fuelled by strength and pride, Young Gilgamesh is determined to establish his fame and fortify the city of Uruk as a monument to himself. But the killing of Humbaba and the destruction of the forest and its animals angers the gods, who punish the young king by taking the life of his beloved Enkidu. Confronted with the truth and sorrow of human mortality, Gilgamesh passes into history to become a fragment among the broken remnants of human culture and memory. Outwitting the Devil is a myth of all times, for our times.

The tour is supported by the JHMB Group and the British Council in Slovenia.