HOW ABOUT NOW | Moonwalking Bear

A man steps out for air. Another is already there. One talks too much. One doesn’t say enough.
What begins as small talk quickly spirals into a volatile game of dominance.

Set entirely within a transparent glass box, HOW ABOUT NOW is a claustrophobic encounter - two people testing what can be said, what can be taken back. Around them, the air thickens: a mind, a digital void, a confessional, where truths distort, and intimacy curdles into threat.

Inspired by Max Frisch’s The Arsonists - a parable of denial and complicity in the face of quiet catastrophe - While Frisch asks how fascism is allowed into the home under the guise of civility and denial, this production transposes societal unease into a more intimate crisis: the erosion of connection, trust, and self-awareness.

What happens when the lines between reality, identity, and performance collapse?
When everything becomes content, what remains sacred?
And who owns a moment once it’s recorded?

Directed and choreographed by Olivier Award-nominated Hannes Langolf (Dear England, National Theatre; John, DV8 Physical Theatre), with an original script by Andrew Muir, a haunting sound score by Jethro Cooke, set and costume design by award-winning Loren Elstein, and lighting by critically acclaimed Joe Hornsby, HOW ABOUT NOW blends dance, spoken word, and theatre into a poetic yet visceral stage production.

Credits:

Concept and Direction Hannes Langolf

Choreography Hannes Langolf with Ermira Goro and Ed Mitchell

Creative Associate Ermira Goro

Writer Andrew Muir

Set and Costume Design Loren Elstein

Sound Design and Composition Jethro Cooke

Lighting Design Joe Hornsby

Performed by Hannes Langolf and Ed Mitchell

Production Manager Ryan Funnell

Deputy Stage Manager Chloe Astleford

Technical Stage Manager Jake Hughes

Supported by Arts Council England and the Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation

With kind support by Jeff Garner

R&D commissioned by The Place

Production Moonwalking Bear Productions

Coproduction Emilia Romagna Teatro ERT / Teatro Nazionale

For Moonwalking Bear Productions

Artistic Director Hannes Langolf

Producer Louise Eltringham

Development and Engagement Associate Jenna Lambie Ridgway

Company Teachers:

Laure Bachelot, Baptiste Bourgougnon, Tina Afiyan Breiova, Ching-Ying Chien, Beth Edwards, Liam Francis, Hannes Langolf, Yen-Ching Lin, Christina May, Ed Mitchell, Hannah Rudd, Jeannie Steele

R&D contributors:

Charles Antoni, Alessio Bagiardi, Sam Coren, Sonya Cullingford, Kath Duggan, Chris Evans, Valentina Formenti, Joel Mesa Gutiérrez, Yen-Ching Lin, Ed Mitchell, Louis Partridge, Marta Rak, Lewis Walker

With thanks to:

Tamsin Ace, Wendy Houstoun, Mitch James, Rike & Lendschi Langolf, Conor Marren, Liz Mischler, Lloyd Newson, Tom Pattullo, Nancy Rossi, London College of Fashion, Artsadmin