SIZE OF COMPANY
3–6 on the road

SCALE OF VENUE
Small- to middle-scale

PERMANENT STAFF
Artist/Artistic Director
Kazuko Hohki

Producer
Jo Crowley

ARTISTIC POLICY
Kazuko Hohki is an artist, singer, musician, animator, director, performer and storyteller. She was born and raised in Japan and came to England in 1978. Her critically acclaimed work combines theatre, live art and performance and fuses idiosyncratic storytelling, multi-media work, original songs and her trademark deadpan humour. Before making her acclaimed solo work, she founded the Japanese female pop performance group the Frank Chickens, releasing five albums and touring the world.

REVIEW EXTRACTS
‘Completely delightful. Lit up with a romantic, care free humour that can only inspire the highest of spirits.’ Time Out

‘Beguiling. Tongue-in-cheek techno-trickery, Idiosyncratic, and gently innovative, this is a delightful trip to an imaginative universe where – among other attributes – one hour feels like a mere five minutes.’ The Evening Standard

‘This promenade piece is a delight – its strength lies in the ingenious artistic concept, the meticulous making skills, the music and engaging performances that brings the audience into its alternative reality with a complete suspension of disbelief.’ Total Theatre

CURRENT PRODUCTIONS
Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers Inspired by Mary Norton’s children’s story The Borrowers, a site-responsive interactive performance and installation event for adults that reveals the unique world and culture of the small people who live under the floorboards. (75 mins, no interval, 3 on stage, 4–5 on the road.)

Oh Doh A site-responsive outdoor promenade show about “endings”. Through a mix of stories, performances, installations and interventions, an audience is taken on a journey through familiar, historical and fictional worlds to “utopia”. (80 mins, no interval, 6 on stage, 7–8 on the road.)

My Husband is a Spaceman A deceptively simple love story of a Japanese office girl and an English Anthropologist. Explores a cross-cultural relationship, using storytelling, music, puppetry, film and animation. (70 mins, no interval, 2 on stage, 3 on the road.)

Toothless A poignant, comic elegy to Hohkio's mother, a popular priestess in Japan. A witty, moving, unexpected and poignant examination of a relationship with a mother, a country and life and death. (70 mins, 2 on stage, 3 on the road.)

FUTURE PRODUCTIONS
Kazuko Hohki’s Wuthering Heights A new production inspired by Emily Bronte’s seminal novel of passion on the Yorkshire Moors, as seen through the eyes of a Japanese tourist and some very curious sheep.

Last Night I Dreamed I was an Eskimo A rich hallucinatory fantasy, inspired by Norwegian explorer Fridjtof Nansen’s visionary expedition of 1893-06 to the North Pole. This performance and installation will blend storytelling, music, projection, puppetry, light and darkness to address the themes of absence, myths of the arctic, survival and illusion.

WRAP-AROUND
Tailor made workshops on storytelling, object animation, devising, site-responsive theatre and adaptation. Post-performance discussions, residencies, masterclasses and talks also available. Participatory performances and collaborations (Oh Doh requires a team of local volunteer performers and production assistants).

RECENT INTERNATIONAL WORK
2006 Canada, Malta (My Husband is a Spaceman)
2005 Israel, Netherlands (My Husband is a Spaceman)
2004 Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland (My Husband is a Spaceman)

TOURING AVAILABILITY
Throughout 2008