Director, choreographer, and performer Akram Khan’s Until the Lions will return to London’s Roundhouse in January 2019 with Khan dancing the role of Bheeshma for the final time. The critically acclaimed show will play just six performances, January 11–17, in the venue that housed its world premiere in 2016.

Until the Lions is inspired by poet Karthika Naïr’s book Until The Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, an original reworking of the ancient Sanskrit epic. The piece combines the Indian dance form Kathak and contemporary dance to explore themes of gender and time.

Khan will perform alongside Joy Alpuerto Ritter and Ching-Ying Chien who won the 2016 National Dance Award for Outstanding Female Performance. Accompanying them onstage will be musicians Sohini Alam, Joseph Ashwin, David Azurza, and Yaron Engler.

Khan reunites with some of the artistic collaborators behind his Olivier Award-winning production DESH, including visual artist Tim Yip, lighting designer Michael Hulls, writer and poet Naïr and Ruth Little.