REVIEW: Thikra: Night of Remembering

© Photography by Camilla Greenwell

Commissioned as part of a series inviting artists to respond to the vast desert landscape of AlUla, a region of sandstone canyons and monumental rocks in north-west Saudi Arabia, Thikra: Night of Remembering began its life beneath open skies. Once a vital oasis for travellers and traders, AlUla still bears the traces of ancient civilisations in its carved inscriptions and tombs. Now reimagined for the enclosed space of Sadler’s Wells, the work carries the breath and mystery of that desert into a London theatre.

Before the curtain rises, a steady drumbeat begins to swell, drawing us into a ritual. When the stage is finally revealed, a monumental rock dominates the centre, designed by visual artist Manal AlDowayan. Her set and costume design evokes the mythic and archaeological memory of AlUla, blending pre-Islamic histories, spiritual traditions, and global rituals of remembrance to create a space where past and future seem to converse.

At the heart of the story is the Matriarch, a figure who returns for one night to guide her tribe in a ceremony of renewal. With her are two sisters: one who summons ancestral spirits, and another who becomes their vessel. They lead the tribe to summon their ancestor-spirit from the “Knowledge Rock”. Together, they lead the tribe to invoke memory itself, calling upon the wisdom of the ruins and the enduring patterns of human life.

Structured in three parts, Thikra unfolds through states of awakening, trance, and release. The choreography blends Akram Khan’s distinctive movement language, with a grounded, low centre of gravity, arms lifted high and hands tracing expressive, symbolic gestures, intricate footwork, and the use of hair as both a tether and an instrument, together with contributions from dancers trained in Bharatanatyam and contemporary dance. The ensemble of thirteen moves with both precision and emotional intensity. Anger, pain, and power surge through the collective rhythm, evoking the raw energy of the desert. The movement is meticulously crafted yet emotionally visceral, full of strength, yearning, and ritual significance. Female figures appear as warriors, vessels, and spirits, carrying memory and ceremony in their bodies.

The work unfolds like a dream, fluid, cyclical, and at times elusive. However, for all its visual grandeur and ritual resonance, the piece remains clouded by a lack of narrative clarity. What purports to be a convergence of diverse cultural memories instead drifts into conceptual ambiguity, its symbolic gestures sometimes resisting a fully legible dramatic arc.

This piece also marks the 25th anniversary of the Akram Khan Company and signals its closing chapter in this form, as it embarks on a new artistic journey after this run. It feels fitting that Khan’s final work should be about remembrance and renewal. Thikra, which means “remembrance,” becomes both a farewell and a beginning, a meditation on continuity, legacy, and the ghosts that move through all creation.

★★★1/2

This performance is currently running at Sadler's Wells until the 1st of November.
For more information, please visit: https://www.sadlerswells.com/whats-on/akram-khan-company-akram-khan-manal-aldowayan-thikra-night-of-remembering/

Credits

Choreographer & Director: Akram Khan
Visual Artist & Co-Creator: Manal AlDowayan
Music & Soundscape Designer: Aditya Prakash
Sound Designer: Gareth Fry
Lighting Designer: Zeynep Kepekli
Dramaturgy : Blue Pieta
Performers: An international all-female cast of contemporary and Bharatanatyam dancers

Acknowledgements

Commissioned by Wadi AlFann, Valley of the Arts, AlUla
Primary Co-producing Partner Bagri Foundation
Indoor adaptation co-produced by Berliner Festspiele, Brown Arts Institute at Brown University, Montpellier Danse Festival, Pina Bausch Zentrum, Sadler’s Wells, Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Théâtre de la Ville Paris
Supported by Arts Council England