Toshiki Okada

Toshiki Okada, a critically-acclaimed figure on the Japanese theatre scene, probes the mechanisms and symptoms of our society. Mixing together science fiction and poetry within the confines of a group on a space expedition, his new play The Window of Spaceship ‘In-Between’ tackles the issues of distancing and the definition of humanity.

In what ways does the unstoppable development of artificial intelligence (AI) permeate our lives and behaviour? Kurō Tanino, playwright of the poetry of our everyday lives and the imperceptible movements of the psyche, brings to the stage a world in which technology reveals the depths of our unconscious.

The choreographer Katerina Andreou draws upon the constant confusion and noise of the world as the driving force in this her first group piece. Playfulness, absurdity, fiction and poetry arise from within this mental and emotional state. 

Taking his inspiration from traditional Japanese forms, playwright and director Satoko Ichihara brings us a puppet theatre for today's world. It is a troubled one, in which the story revolves around the ambiguous nature of the dolls. In this modern tale, loneliness, suffering and sexuality are the driving forces behind these puppets the various weaknesses of which makes them ever more human.

By reconstituting four perfectly extraordinary, but very real, stories Marcus Lindeen and Marianne Ségol raise questions about the notion of memory. Their unique form of theatre, in which spoken words of a personal nature are exchanged and feed off each other, is scrupulously crafted and philosophical in equal measure. 

There are no puppets in this large-scale new work by puppeteer Alice Laloy. Instead, we encounter humans which have been transformed into avatars and then thrown into a ring In order to compete in increasingly violent matches. This mise en abyme, at the frontier between wrestling-inspired ritual and video game scenario, invites us to question the limits of a society which simply follows orders.