OUR TEAM
Our work connects artists across languages and cultures, exploring how literature can be transformed into vivid theatrical experiences.
Artistic Producer: Kazue Horimasu / 堀益和枝 (she/her)
Founder of Ekkyo Creative Ltd (2025–)
Freelance Playwright and Theatre Director (since 2009)
A London-based Japanese theatre maker, specialising in intercultural theatre.
Her directing style often blends, improvisation, satire, physical performance, and text-driven dramaturgy.
Selected Productions:
• War With The Newts (Karel Čapek, 2018 – Tokyo; 2024 – Czech Embassy, London | Epic Drama)
• Inspector (inspired by Nikolay Gogol, 2017 – Tokyo | Political Satire)
• Ubu Rex (Alfred Jarry, 2016 – Tokyo | Bouffon)
• Animal Farm (George Orwell, 2015 – Tokyo | Family Theatre)
• For Dad Who Wasn’t Able To Be Killed In A War (Tsuka Kōhei, 2014 – Tokyo | Bouffon)
• The Hunger Alliance (Abe Kōbō, 2013 – Tokyo | Novel-Style Theatre)
Education:
East 15 Acting School – MFA Theatre Directing (UK)
École Philippe Gaulier – Bouffon & Satire (France)
Takeuchi Toshiharu Workshop - Applied Drama (Japan)
Our Partners & Collaborators
Primary Partner
The Cockpit
The Cockpit supports the project at R&D stage through artistic dialogue and expertise in theatre-in-the-round staging.
Additional Advisory Support
– King’s Head Theatre (producing and programming insight)
– New Earth Theatre (cultural and intercultural representation)
– Halfpace Theatre (physical and movement-based storytelling)
– The Survivors Trust (guidance on the responsible depiction of sexual violence)
Collaborators
Alumni of East 15 Acting School who joined Kazue’s dissertation project War With The Newts at the Czech Embassy.
They are also active across the UK and internationally as actors, movement artists and artistic directors.
* Production photos from War With The Newts, Czech Embassy, London, 2024.
Author
Akira Otani (王谷晶）is a Tokyo-born fiction writer.
The Night of Baba Yaga (Baba Yaga no Yoru, 2021) was shortlisted for the 74th Mystery Writers of Japan Award for Best Novel.
Its English translation won the 2025 Dagger Award for Crime Fiction in Translation.
Read more on the publisher’s website
Together, we aim to create theatrical bridges between Japan and the UK - stories that transcend borders and speak to the shared humanity at the heart of contemporary life.