The producers of The Mongol Khan have announced the full creative team for the show, working alongside Mongolian Director Hero Baatar.
Multi-award winning playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker (Our Country’s Good, Three Birds Alighting on a Field) is adapting a new translation of the story by historian and expert in Mongolian history and culture John Man. The show will have sur-titles for London audiences.
The Mongol Khan is playing at the London Coliseum from 17 November to 2 December 2023.
Olivier and Tony Award-winning puppet designer Nick Barnes (Life of Pi, The Lorax), Artistic Director and founder of Blind Summit, will design and create new puppets specifically for the UK production, including a fire-breathing dragon.
Award-winning lighting designer Mike Roberston (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, School of Rock, Billy Elliot) will redesign the lighting for the vast London Coliseum stage; and acclaimed sound designer David Gregory (King John, RSC; Boudica, Shakespeare’s Globe; The Selfish Giant, West End) will design The Mongol Khan’s sound.
The production is promised to be on a lavish, vast scale, with an ensemble of over 70 performers exploring Mongolian culture and history through music, dance, dialogue and puppetry, with elaborate sets and costumes, all inspired by traditional nomadic culture and tradition.
Director Hero Baatar said in a statement: “The United Kingdom recognised our country’s independence before any other western country and established diplomatic relations 60 years ago. The Mongolian theatre production playing in the West End for the first time is an historic event, and marks a new era in Mongolian drama. Cooperation with British artists is a crucial step in developing Mongolian theatre, which has a 90-year history, and it is a great honour for us to work with artists from Shakespeare’s homeland.”
The Mongol Khan was written in 1998 by renowned Mongolian writer and poet Lkhagvasuren Bavuu and was revived in April 2022 at the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Drama, directed by Hero Baatar. The production has taken inspiration from historical events, archaeological findings, traditional nomadic dances, and the music of the ancient Hun culture of Central Asia from the Hunnu Empire period, and is produced by Hero Entertainment, Wild Yak Productions and Maktub Productions.
The producers of The Mongol Khan are Esunmunkh Myagmar, Amundra Amartuvshin, Bayra Bela, Unurmaa Janchiv, and Oliver King.
