TWO MOTHS IN REAL TIME

Thick & Tight were invited to respond to Japanese Noh and Kyogen theatre by the Noh Reimagined Festival, with a theme of ‘Nature Unwrapped’. The premier happened at Kings Place in London and then went onto be performed at the Tessen Kai Noh Theatre in Tokyo in 2023.

 

Two Moths in Real Time is inspired by the rhythms, structure, choreographic languages and metaphysical philosophy in Noh and Kyogen, finding a way through precise discipline towards expressive freedom and through complexity towards simplicity. Through extensive research and insightful training with Senzaburo Shigeyama and Dr Ashley Thorpe, we have tried to comprehend the performative, thematic and contextual elements of Noh and Kyogen, finding connections with our own practice in dance and queer performance. Two Moths in Real Time explores the idea of undoing harm, of reversal as a kind of progression, unravelling the falsehood of humans being somehow separate from nature.

​

Thank you to Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation for supporting a study trip to Japan as part of this project.

​

​

“precise, insectile delicacy”

The Times 

​

Moths: Daniel Hay-Gordon & Eleanor Perry

Costume Design: Tim Spooner

Costume Consultant: Karina Tanabe Jones

Lighting Design: Nao Nagai

Makeup Design: Darren Evans

Music: Mayumi Miyata & Stefan Hussong, Joji Yuasa, Benjamin Britten, Ka Baird, Yoko Ono, George Crumb, Akihiro Miwa, Stockhausen/Keiji Haino & Zeitkratzer, Haruomi Hosono, and sound recorded at Snape Maltings with the support of Britten Pears Arts (special thank you to Jamie Orchard-Lisle)

​

Commissioned by Noh Reimagined Festival.

 

Supported by Arts Council England, Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, Britten Pears Arts & Kings Place.

 

Thanks to Akiko Yanagisawa, Senzaburo Shigeyama, Julia Yamane, Dance Base Yokohama, Ashley Thorpe, Mamoru Iriguchi, ShayShay, Kazumi Taguchi, Kazuko Hohki, Ruth Holdsworth, Franko Figueiredo, Kumiko Mendl, Helen Wallace & Jamie Orchard-Lisle.

​

Click here to find out about our related project 'Lost Moths'

​

​