This piece is our second work in Berlin (2016). After two work-in-progress performances in the studio, during which we received valuable feedback from Berlin audiences, it evolved into a theatre production – a deeply memorable piece.
Inspired by Kobo Abe’s novel The Woman in the Dunes, we have created a butoh theatre piece that seeps beneath the skin.
Utopia at the World's End
A man wanders into the dunes, chasing insects, only to be caught by the sands themselves.
At the bottom of a pit, a village breathes—its people shovelling endlessly, fighting the slow collapse of their homes.
There, a woman lives. She shovels with steady hands, her body moving with the rhythm of survival. She becomes his captor, his companion, his mirror in the pit.
He resists, struggles, climbs, and falls. Each attempt is swallowed by the shifting sands. Yet beside her, in the endless cycle of labour, his defiance slowly transforms. In the pulse of futility, in the intimacy of shared breath and sand, a fragile hope begins to glimmer.
The village of sand becomes a mirror of the city, the ceaseless task a metaphor for life itself.
In this endless labour, the woman and the man embody both despair and endurance—two lives entwined, resisting the ceaseless drift of time and sand.
Yet in the pit, nothing remains unchanged. What is carried away by the dunes cannot be held back. What vanishes leaves behind only silence.
Direction, choreography, performance, light & sound design: Hikaru Inagawa
Choreography, performance, costume: Maco
Music: Masaru Soga, Kazuya Zenzai and others
Production assistant: Adina Mohr, Rareș Grozea
Production: 4RUDE
Running time: about 55 min
Entrance: PWYW 15€- 25€
Booking required: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Seats are limited, so book early!
Pay at the door; advance payment options are available.
