Thikra: Night of Remembering
Past and present converge in a journey through tradition, honouring our ancestors in Akram Khan Company’s final touring production
Imagined as an annual gathering, a tribe of women come together for one night only to awaken the spirit of those who came before them. Through ceremony and shared remembrance, they transcend time, uniting the past and present in a profound act of renewal.
Khan draws profound inspiration from diverse cultures that engage in these sacred practices across the globe. With scenography and costume design by award-winning Saudi visual artist Manal AlDowayan, the piece explores the echoes of a colonised past.
Featuring an original score by Aditya Prakash (ROOM-i-Nation, 2025), sound design by Gareth Fry, lighting design by Zeynep Kepekli, dramaturgy by Blue Pieta, with an all-female international cast of Contemporary and Bharatanatyam dancers, Thikra weaves a narrative that is at once universal and deeply personal.
Together, these creative voices invite us to reflect on our own heritage and the rituals that have shaped our shared humanity.
The Foyer Bar will be open from 6pm, with live music by Axelotl (Sat) & PeNN Trio (Sun), and the visual art exhibition Act 0 presented by the Adelaide Salon will be open (for ticket holders only)
Act 0 (Saturday): Andy Ash - Again and Again
A performance structured through repetition and restraint, Again And Again examines the limits of the body as a site of control and resistance. Through iterative action, Ash and performing guest artist Nina Garstang tests the boundaries between rule and rupture—measuring distance not only physically, but psychologically. Each gesture accumulates tension, revealing how systems of judgement, discipline and freedom are negotiated through lived experience.
Andy Ash is an artist, researcher and educator whose expanded sculptural practice spans performance, film, sound and installation. Working at the intersection of conceptual art and spatial inquiry, his work often unfolds through walking as method—an act of observation, disruption and re-imagining. He is Associate Professor at UCL.
Act 0 (Sunday): Aisling Zambon - In-Between
A durational performance situated within liminal space, In-Between explores thresholds between presence and absence, body and afterimage. Drawing on Instrumental Trans-Communication, the work invokes subtle symbolic gestures that invite the audience into a speculative act of perception. Time becomes suspended, and narrative emerges through the viewer’s own interpretive encounter.
Aisling Zambon is a performance artist whose practice centres on immersive, participatory experience. Working with duration, she explores life cycles, altered states and the relationship between individual and collective consciousness. Trained in theatre and collaborative practice, her work draws on socially engaged methodologies to create emotionally resonant and intimate encounters.
Watch the Trailer
Production Images
Akram Khan
Director/Choreographer
Akram Khan is one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists of today. In 25 years, he has created a body of work that has contributed significantly to the arts in the UK and abroad. His reputation has been built on the success of imaginative, highly accessible and relevant productions such as GIGENIS: the generation of the Earth, Jungle Book Reimagined and Outwitting the Devil
Manal AlDowayan
Visual Director / Costume and Scenography
Embracing diverse media, Manal AlDowayan’s work encompasses black and white photography, sculpture, video, sound, neon and large-scale participatory installations. Her artistic practice revolves around themes of invisibility, active forgetting, archives, and collective memory, with a large focus on the status of women and their representation. Manal holds a Master’s Degree in Contemporary Art Practice in Public Spheres from the Royal College of Art, London and her works can be found in the collections of the British Museum, London; Centre Pompidou collection in Paris and the Guggenheim Collection in New York
Aditya Prakash
Composer & Soundscape Designer
Aditya Prakash, an award-winning singer and composer known for his powerful and expressive voice, is one of the foremost young practitioners of Carnatic music. Aditya’s current focus in composition is pushing boundaries within the classical tradition. In his latest solo album, ISOLASHUN, he explores the weight of privilege and the boundaries of tradition in an entirely new creative form. He is currently composing the music for three evening-length dance productions by Akram Khan as well as touring his own solo gig-theatre production ROOM-i-Nation (Brighton Festival 2025), which explores themes of identity, migration and tradition.
Supported by Dishoom Permit Room
Commissioned by Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla
Primary Co-producing Partner Bagri Foundation
*There is a £3.50 per order charge for all phone and online bookings (not applicable to Brighton Dome & Brighton Festival members)
**Stage timings are subject to change
