Jungle Book reimagined

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling has been totally reinvented by Akram Khan (director and choreographer) with a futuristic script by Tariq Jordan.

Ultra-modern dance, animated drawings as projections, and original music by Jocelyn Pook bring the new folktale to vibrant but grungy life.

You see, Mowgli is reimagined as a modern-day refugee, torn from her home on life-threatening flood waters caused by climate change.

Her eventual animal-companions (the dancers wear similar, modern clothing but move in unique animal-like postures) are escapees from laboratories and zoos, so it may take a while to recognise Bagheera the panther or minor jungle-dwellers, if unfamiliar with the original source.

Baloo is now a Russian dancing bear, escaped from his captors in the chaos of this new, crumbling world.

The Bandar-log are monkeys used for science experiments, and Kaa, the rock python, has broken free from a smashed glass display in a zoo.

Dancing of the highest calibre is required to replicate the angular, aggressive, and percussive animal movements and Akram Khan’s dancers are world class.

The choreography is adrenaline-charged and feels like nothing I’ve seen before on stage.

Cleverly, species that are larger or smaller than Mowgli (therefore cannot be interpreted by dancers) such as, Chil, the kite and Hathi, the elephant, are brought to life by animated rotoscope drawings (created by YeastCulture) projected onto sheer, invisible screens, hanging in front of the dancers, giving a three-dimensional feel.

The choreography is so strong, I felt it could have carried the plot through the visual effects and music alone.

Use of pre-recorded voice actors, providing dialogue between the animals, (physically impossible for the vigorous dancers) seemed emotionally distance and slightly redundant. 

However, part of the target audience, being younger than I, would probably appreciate the loud, cartoonish vocals to help follow the journey Mowgli is taken on.

The post-apocalyptic landscape, (stage design by Miriam Buether) of abandoned shopping trolleys and blown-aside cardboard boxes, certainly had the desired effect and I longed to view some greenery – grass, plants, water, or other signs of life – amongst the monochrome of the jungle city.

Amid the soundscape of the world diminishing, we recognise sound bites from news headlines and quotes from politicians and young activist, Greta Thunberg.

Mowgli must decide, after her jungle encounters, whether to live in harmony with the animals or take the side of potentially violent humans.

If old tales of animals and humans co-existing can be retold to new audiences, in contemporary and imaginative ways, perhaps we can reimagine the fate of our own modern world.

Perth Festival’s presentation of “Jungle Book reimagined” gives us the chance to witness, firsthand, the skills of a multi-award-winning ensemble of creative talents.

Jane Keehn

Photographs by Ambra Vernuccio