Untitled Document

Toothless

My mother was a religious priestess in a modern Japanese religion. She loved being a priestess as she could tell jokesŠ

a witty and poignant examination of a relationship with a mother, a country and death, with songs, toys, Japanese B movies & imaginary tight rope walking.

What the press said.....

Time Out Critic Choice - Kazuko Hohki pays fascinating tribute to her mother

Surreal and lylical requiem, tempered by a narrative which is gentle, affectionate and humorous. Kate Berridge , The Independent On Sunday

Much admired performance piece - a funny and emotional look at cultural roots and the way one culture influences another, Lyn Gardner, The Gardian

Delightfully forthright. Complex and fascinating exrercise in modern tragi-comedy. The Times

Director/co-writer/Animation Tim Hope

Music Clive Bell, Tim Hope

Lighting Design Kirstin Leonalds/Lisa Audouin

Theatre Design Chris Squire

Puppet Maker Alison McGowan

Type of Show:

Story telling, live music, animation, Live Art, Mixed Media, Humour

Venues & Audience:

End on spaces, preferably with raked seating. Suitable for small - midsclae spaces. Suitable for all ages.

Running time:

1 hour, 15 minutes

Education & Workshops:

Kazuko is keen to engage with professionals, students and amateur artists in communities and venues and therefore offers a series of tailor made one off workshops and residencies to accompany the creation and presentation of her work.

INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS :

Space Performing Area - Minimum size: 8m x 8m. Seating layout - end on Set Two self-standing screens at the back of the performance area. Projector onto stage left screen. Props & Equipment To be provided by the Company: Video Camera (PAL) X 2 MDV video player (PAL) x 2 X 2 Black & White free standing screens Required from/to be provided by the venue: Video Projector (PAL)* + projector cradle Vision Mixer (Ideally Panasonic MX50, PAL) Simpler mixer can be used e.g. 3 sources (channels) for visuals with stereo trucks for sound. * Tripod for video camera* Facility to fly or mount projector including cradle Power extensions long cable to connect camera (on stage) to vision mixer (in the control room/area) and vision mixer (in the control room) to the projector. phono to phono cables. Have used XLR connection fixed in venue on some occasions Lighting board, Sound desk & Vision mixer must all be in the same area as all 3 are to be operated by one technician * if it is not possible to provide such items then please let us know immediately International Freight (to be transported with the Company) X 1 Case (props + set): dimensions: 40cmx70cm, weight: 11kg) X 1 Cases (props + set): 22cmx60cm Height 40cm, weight: 6-8kg each X 1 army bag containing screens for projection (35cm diameter 92cm, height weight 13 kg) Minimal personal baggage for team of 3. Lighting Basic lighting rig. The company will provide lighting plan in advance. The venue will be expected to pre rig the lighting, before the Company arrives. Sound To be provided by the venue: x 1 C.D player to be plugged into House PA for pre & post show music. x 1 Good quality PA with reverb unit for vocal x 1 vocal microphone (SM58 or equivalent) x 1 microphone for violin (for some larger spaces) x 2 on-stage monitors Laundry Costumes need to be washed and dried after each show.

Get in & Get Out Get In:

6 hours Get-out: 1 hour Technical assistance required for duration of get in & get out Running Time 1 hour, 10 minutes (no interval) Cast/crew 2 performers, 1crew Dressing Rooms Two dressing rooms/spaces required with access to shower/toilets, an iron, safe locker. Please provide tea/coffee-making facilities in the larger dressing room.

Tootless Touring Information For Further Information. Please contact Joanna Crowley, Producer C/O BAC, Lavender Hill, Battersea, London, SW11 5TN Phone: +44 (0)20 7223 0086 Fax: +44 (0)20 7978 5207 Email: jo@kazukohohki.com

My Husband is a Spaceman

Completely delightful. Lit up with a romantic, care free humour that can only inspire the highest of spirits Time Out Critics Choice

Beguiling. Tongue-in-cheek techno-trickery, Idiosyncratic, and gently innovative, this is a delightful trip to an imaginative universe where - among other attributes - one hour feels like a mere five minutes. The Evening Standard

A beguiling blend of insightful, contemporary comment and fanciful, timeless storytelling. Metro

A Theatrical romantic comedy with moments of profundity and dazzling invention...both hilariously funny and oddly moving ...encapsulates the play's fine balance of humour and tragedy perfectly. Go See. What's On

Kazuko Hohki is such a droll story-teller. Herald

About the Show:

A multi-media solo show, the third part of an absorbing trilogy following Toothless and The Shining Princess.

It tells the story of a Japanese office lady who is content with her single lifestyle, having abandoned any expectation of meeting Mr Right. This is before she encounters Robin, an English University fellow, who she meets in Tokyo. They fall in love, get married, and move to England. But married life is not what he expects. Every night the eccentric Englishman locks himself up in a room upstairs in their house. My Husband is a Spaceman is derived from an old Japanese folk tale of love between a peasant and a crane based on Kazukos experience (to some extent) of a cross-cultural relationship, loneliness and how to survive it. One of the most personal and affecting performers you are ever likely to see.

Creative Team Created and performed by Kazuko Hohki Directed by Arlette George Directorial and script editing help by David Woods (Ridiculusmus) and Tom Morris (Associate Director, Royal National Theatre), Music accompaniment by Christopher Koh(Angharad David), Music by Clive Bell, Christopher Koh and Tim Hope

Type of Show:

Story telling, live music, animation, Live Art, Mixed Media, Humour

Venues & Audience:

End on spaces, preferably with raked seating. Suitable for small - midsclae spaces. Suitable for all ages.

Running time:

1 hour, 15 minutes

Education & Workshops:

INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS :

Get in & Get Out Get In:

PRESS CUTTINGS:

Evening Standard (Rachel Halliburton)

³Lord, love a duck Those who practise rhyming slang may have cynical comments to make about a woman who fancies a duck, but an altogether more subtle humour is on offer in this beguiling show. Kazuko Hohki, founder of Japanese band the Frank Chickens, uses her surreal love story to point up some of the absurd clichés dogging the way in which the British and the Japanese view each other. Hohki¹s curious blend of storytelling and tongue-in-cheek techno-trickery has long been a favoured dish on the BAC¹s menu. Last year, she presented an eclectic, electronically-aided meditation on her mother¹s death; now, she takes the audience on a mysteriously magical tour through icons of stiff-upper-lip Britishness, ranging from Brief Encounter to a cup of tea. A violinist sits to one side of the performing area, while on the other side a large screen displays filmed animated sequences. As a rocket takes off on the screen, accompanied by an upward glissando on the violin, Hohki steps centre-stage in her designer black suit and starts to tell a traditional Japanese tale about a man who falls in love with a crane (the bird, please note, not the construction-site mechanism). The ensuing narrative is spiced up by Hohki¹s deliciously ironic humour. She herself poses as a naïve Japanese office-girl who dreams of an English lifestyle constituting endless cups of tea and discussions about Shakespeare. Shortly after, she develops unrequited desires for a duck and an English anthropologist who comes to her doorstep, and an encounter that starts with a questionnaire leads to a marriage proposal. Hohki uses Japanese paper theatre techniques, and other faux-naïve animations for this understated performance interspersed with songs about love, clothes, and space creatures. Idiosyncratic, and gently innovative, this is a delightful trip to an imaginative universe where among other attributes one hour feels like a mere five minutes².

The Guardian (Alfred Hickling) ****

³Kazuko Hohki is best known as half of the Japanese cabaret anarchists Frank Chickens. Here she speaks frankly about a duck. My Husband is a Spaceman is an improbable tale about mating with a mallard, a personable lecture-demonstration in the Japanese art of gimmicks. Hohki¹s narrative, developed in association with London¹s BAC and Japan 2001, is introduced as half-traditional and half-true. She reveals that her major ambition as a young girl growing up in Tokyo was to become taller, hairier and less hygienic. In other words, she hoped to grow up European. The piece describes how she made the transition and takes its place alongside the fringe favourites Toothless and The Shining Princess as the final part of a loose trilogy investigating the experiences of a Japanese woman living in the UK To make it to England Hohki dated a duck or rather, she went out with a peculiar English anthropologist who turned out to be a cosmic being in webbed-footed form. A likely story, you may think. But this is a rather clever conflation of two venerable Japanese traditions, the Kamishibai Ya and the office lady, or OL. Kamishibai Ya ancient Japanes storytellers pushed little bits of paper around a frame to illustrate their narratives; OL¹s push little bits of paper around the office photocopier and blow their salaries in the designer outlets of Tokyo¹s trendy Shibuya district. There¹s a bit of both in Kazuko Hohki. One moment she croons karaoke lullabies to Shibuya shopping sprees, the next she employs the Kamishibai Ya favourite about a peasant who married a crane to explain how she got hitched to a duck. Her presentation has a delightfully flimsy, home made feel, although she also uses witty video sequences. There¹s also the danger of technology letting you down, however at one point the projection screen collapsed. ³As soon as I came to England, my background disappeared², she improvised, without missing a beat.²

Time Out - Critics Choice (Maddy Costa)

³The final instalment in Kazuko Hohki¹s loosely autobiographical trilogy is, she says, Œpart true and part traditional¹. It¹s also part fairy tale, part karaoke session and part cartoon hour, fairly kooky and completely delightful. Hohki begins with a homage to the Kamishibai Ya, Japan¹s traditional travelling storytellers, relating a magical folktale in which a peasant unknowingly marries a crane. But where the Kamishibai Ya used pictures to illustrate the action, Hohki has created a film of origami figures waddling disjointedly, unfurling and re-forming, which plays on a big screen beside her. This proves the perfect preface to her own story, in which Hohki, a secretary of Office Lady obsessed with designer clothes and English tea, saves a duck from a Chinese restaurant conspiracy and ends up marrying him in the form of an English anthropologist who learned Japanese from an ancient textbook. It¹s this concentration of detail sometimes quaint, sometimes sharply amusing that makes Hohki¹s show such a pleasure. As a child, she says, she read Winnie the Pooh and decided the English must be clever if even the stuffed toys could engage in serious discussion; when thwarted in love, the Japanese can¹t turn to crossroads because there are 2000 letters in the alphabet and the attempt would hasten mental breakdown. Visually, too, the show is full of treats. She opens a briefcase to reveal a beautiful model of her office in Tokyo, and later presents a tiny replica Œin bonsai-garden style¹ of her husband¹s house. The whole thing is punctuated with songs in Japanese and English and lit up with a romantic, care free humour that can only inspire the highest of spirits.²

Metro

³Kazuko Hohki¹s final piece in her trilogy exploring the experience of a Japanese woman living in England is a beguiling blend of insightful, contemporary comment and fanciful, timeless storytelling. It begins with a traditional Japanese tale, told by way of projected graphics, about a man who falls in love with a peasant woman, who in turn threatens to return to her original form as a crane if he looks upon her at certain times. Later, utilising such handmade methods as tiny paper theatres, Hohki ( right ) echoes this story, telling of her marriage to an English following bizarre meeting involving ducks. Hohki¹s hour-long piece has the feel of personal scrapbook. It is saved from winsome indulgence by the humorous acuity of her ironic reflections on how Japanese people see the English and vice versa, and the enchanting surrealism of some of her digressions, including an animated fashion sequence, love songs about spaceman, and free form narrative anecdotes. The motif of birds with its attendant theme of flights, runs through many of her stories, as do the themes of longing and love, while violin player adds an occasional soundtrack of pathos and beauty. At time muddled but always touching, this is a charming and idiosyncratic dramatic collage of the silly perceptions that separate different cultures and the universal things they have in common.²

What¹s On (Mark Espiner)

³Proving that not all Japanese comedy is obliged to feature Bert Kwouk even if he is Anglo- Chinese) Kazuko Hohki¹s surreal one-woman show is lo-fi gem from start to finish. The narrative style of My Husband Is a Spaceman, which follows on from her earlier Toothless and The Shining Princess, is inspired by the ³Kamishibai Ya² or travelling paper theatre man, who regaled the young Hohki with illustrated tales to musical accompaniment. If this all sounds obscure and boring think again: our heroine has upgraded the paper drawing to digital animation and composed number of Haunting ballads which compliment the visuals perfectly. Hohki plays a disenchanted office girl who marries a mysterious English anthropologist ( represented to brilliant effect by a large false nose) and is whisked back to Blighty with her head full of Shakespeare and Brief Encounter. But matrimonial life doesn¹t quite work out as planned and the chance rescue of a duck may have more cosmic consequence than first imagined. Ostensibly a love story with an off-kilter musical gloss, the piece also has perceptive things to say about identity, both social and cultural, and the nature of personal fantasy. Buoyed along by Hohki's gently satirical wit these issues never seem forced or overemphasised. Japanese men are as easy read as " an open pamphlet ' whilst her rose-tinted visions of England, displayed on-screen in kaleidoscope of rolling meadows and stately homes, develop a hypnotic, almost hallucinogenic power. At The centre of the production is the charming figure of Hohki herself. Polite, naive, insecure yet ironic, spiky and occasionally smutty, she commands the intimate studio space with understated, wide-eyed authority, never afraid to leave tantalizing pauses or pick out individual members of the audience for good natured mockery. Her performance is a very quiet tour des force. A Theatrical romantic comedy with moments of profundity and dazzling invention: the superimposing of Hohki's sullen form in selected scones of Brief Encounter is both hilariously funny and oddly moving and encapsulates the play's fine balance of humour and tragedy perfectly. Go See²

Theatreworld Internet Magazine(Clare Peel )

³Japan fever seems to have really kicked off in the capital this month, with cutting-edge design showcasing at The Barbican in the JAM 2001 exhibition, the basement at Selfridges taken over with Tokyo kitsch and now the award-winning Japanese 'cult punk goddess' (programme notes) Kazuko Hohki premiering 'My Husband is a Spaceman' at BAC. The play, which explores the experiences of a Japanese woman who moves from Tokyo to England, completes Hohki's trilogy, the first two parts of which, 'Toothless' and 'The Shining Princess', both won critical acclaim (Time Out Critic's Choice in October 1999 and June 2000 respectively). This, part three, is the love story of a Japanese office worker, an Anglophile who endearingly believes that all English people drink tea and discuss Shakespeare cum mid-afternoon, and a mysterious English Anthropologist. The multi-talented Hohki transports her audience from 'chic chic Shibuya', a swanky district of Tokyo, where the heroine of the story entertainingly muses on such life-arresting issues as designer shopping and the pivotal role in an office of the tea-maker, to her romantic post-wedding idyll in sedate Middle England, where she discovers that her husband is not all that he was originally cracked up to be. At one point Hohki wonders: 'I know I should be happy because we never fight. But who is really loving me tonight?' A good question. Our narrator peppers her telling of the love story with video snippets and digital animation - a modern-day take on the primitive style of story-telling of the Japanese 'Kamishibai Ya' of her childhood. (The 'Kamishibai Ya' is a type of travelling paper theatre man, who uses simple illustrations to complement his stories.) In the programme, Hohki writes: 'I want to keep the naiveness and rawness which Kamishibai Ya had, to achieve the similar excitement I experienced from his stories.' Her low-tech, high-tech approach seems to achieve this with particular success, and the audience certainly seemed absorbed and entertained. Music (mostly by Clive Bell), notably some hauntingly beautiful live string playing, and song, including a fabulously sultry rendition of a 'traditional' Japanese Karaoke number, 'Shibuya Love Story', are also used to illustrate Hohki's tale. This innovative, off-the-wall, one-woman piece is hard to define, and the overall effect is an appealing mixture of the Surreal, the Seductive and the Soporific...with a dose of gentle comedy thrown in for good measure. Hohki's quirky Surreal approach is heightened by such witty references as a Dalíesque hat and nose, worn to represent her Anthropologist husband, and by some excellently produced, dream-like video sequences (mainly by Hohki, with some sequences by BAFTA-winner Tim Hope). Our narrator's endearingly gentle delivery and the apparent naiveté of the tale add to the seduction of the piece, as well as creating an almost hypnotic atmosphere - something that is aided by the intimacy of BAC's small Studio Two and the dim lighting for Spaceman'. An engaging, moving and clever production².

5star review in The Glasgow Herald. (Mary Buchanan)

"This is one of those shows where you can't help laughing, simply because Kazuko Hohki is such a droll story-teller. Yet, even as you are chortling at her descriptions of life as a Japanese office-lady, you feel something bringing an unexpected lump to your throat. As she confides quietly her dreams to you, Hohki spirits us well beyond world-weary cynicism. She favours lo-fi art forms - hand-made animations and little paper modelsS±Here is a style that celebrates simplicity and directness, but in ways that reveal sophisticated truths about different cultures, personal aspirations, and the compromises that we choose you make in pursuit of happiness and fulfilment."

My Husband is a Spaceman International Touring Information For Further Information. Please contact Joanna Crowley, Producer C/O BAC, Lavender Hill, Battersea, London, SW11 5TN Phone: +44 (0)20 7223 0086 Fax: +44 (0)20 7978 5207 Email: jo@kazukohohki.com

Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers

www.borrowersreunited.com

'The seamless blend of whimsical humour and shrewd social comment, the quaint little songs and utterly magical miniature artifact they all line up as evidence for the existence of a bold and creative vision and a fanciful, witty resourcefulness.' The Herald

'Delightfully batty and bizarrely charming - a wonderfully eccentric piece of hokum. ' The Guardian

'Meticulously designed, well thought out and fragile entertainment - weird and rather wonderful.' The Times

'This promenade piece is a delight its strength lies in the ingenious artistic concept, the meticulous making skills, the music and engaging performances that brings the audience into its alternative reality with a complete suspension of disbelief. Total Theatre

'a quirky little gem - part seminar, part musical, part bonkers - dont miss it' The Belfast Telegraph

About the Show:

Kazuko's latest show marks a departure from her previous solo performances, seeing her present a site responsive promenade production, incorporating interactive installations, alongside multimedia, original songs and storytelling. Kazuko¹s collaborators on the project are Andy Cox, who was a member of UK bands The Beat and Fine Young Cannibals; and Mervyn Millar, a director, designer, puppeteer and installation artist who has worked with companies including wireframe, the National Theatre and the RSC. The show was developed in association with Tom Morris, Associate Director at the National Theatre, with music written with Clive Bell.

Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers takes as its starting point the subjects of Mary Norton's classic children's book, The Borrowers. The performance is framed around the fictional story of how Kazuko, in 2002 gave up her lucrative career as a research chemist in Japan to set up the Borrowers International Network (BIN), to find evidence for the existence of the small people who live under the floorboards. For the past three years, Kazuko and her BIN colleagues have been working hard, promoting cultural exchange between Borrowers and human Œbeans¹ through their website www.borrowersreunited.com. During the show Kazuko and her collaborators invite an intimate audience (approx 15) on a tour around a building, journeying to a series of specially prepared spaces containing interactive exhibits and installations, to explore the unique world and culture of the borrowers, in search of evidence for the existence of Borrowers. Highlights include the Borrowers education centre, where audiences can learn about estimated Borrower characteristics, and a concert of Borrowers music, played on Binistrumnets unique reconstructed Borrowers instruments such as the paper clip piano.

Kazuko Hohki explores a world inspired by her childhood obsession with the little people. Featuring a concert of Borrowers music played on Binstruments (reconstructed Borrower instruments), and The Borrowers Musical Box. Happiness for Everyone. About the show General information NOT TO BE USED AS COPY Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers is a site specific installation and promenade performance by Kazuko Hohki, Andy Cox and Mervyn Millar. The show is a framed as a 'Special Borrower Event', hosted by BIN (Borrowers International Network), an organisation which aims to promote the unique culture of the Borrowers, the small people who live under the floorboards. The piece is made up of a series of educational, enlightening and entertaining installations throughout a building, using interactive displays, multimedia devices, original music and storytelling. The piece is a unique and surprising experience for an intimate audience of 15, taking them to hidden corners of a building in search of the Borrowers. Throughout the show we gradually hear about the story of Kazuko, a Japanese Chemist, who was accused of stealing products form her lab which were actually being 'borrowed' by Borrowers. To prove her innocence, she set up BIN to find evidence for the existence of Borrowers. Having made contact with a (supposed) real life Borrower through the website www.borrowersreunited.com, Kazuko has now dedicated her life to the promotion of cultural exchange between Borrowers and humans, and this event is part of her plan to do just this. About the company

A collaboration between Kazuko Hohki, Andy Cox and Mervyn Millar. Developed with Tom Morris., Co-commissioned by BAC & MAC Developed at BAC & University of Kent

Awards Winner:

Total Theatre Award 2005 Winner: Herald Angel Award 2005

Venues & Audience :

Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers is a flexible site responsive piece. It has been designed to be adaptable to a variety of multi performance and non-performance spaces. The show is reworked and tailored specially to the needs of each venue and the spaces within venues. The production team works closely with venues to prepare and adapt the show for each new environment. The show is ideal for venues and festivals wishing to offer audiences a charming, intimate, unique and unexpected theatrical experience. Suitable for all ages.

Education & Workshops:

Duration of the show :

60mins approx

Type of show:

Live art, installation, site specific, storytelling, multimedia, music,

Technical Information :

Performance Space(s) … Site responsive. Uses 5-6 non-performance spaces. … Works well in old buildings or backstage at theatres or Art Centres. … 5-6 individual small spaces are required. Sample spaces in which the production has been presented in to date, include attics, basements, offices, cupboards, kitchens, deserted corridors. … The show is specifically designed to be flexible, and will be reworked for each venue it plays in. Technical picture … Technical details will vary, depending on the nature of the available performance spaces. … A series of installations and exhibits will be installed into the different spaces, which an audience will journey between. … Sample information of how the spaces are likely to be used and requirements are detailed at the end of this specification. … Larger installation items include Bobject box (trolley 4ft long x 3 ft high x 2ft deep); filing cabinet (which projector inside) approx 5ft high; Borrowers refuge (5ft high x 5ft wide x 3 ft deep). Dimensions of all other installations are minimal . … All installation items are fire proofed in accordance with Heat & Safety Regulations. Venue will be required to provide: Several tables 35 chairs TV & Video. All other equipment and installation elements will be provided by the company. Lighting Requirements … All lighting is created using domestic lighting table lamps, desk lamps, clip lighting, which will be provided by the company. … Access to 13amp power sockets & extension cables will be required. Sound Requirements … All sound is played through domestic sound equipment stereos, personal walkman and laptop connected to portable speakers. … Access to 13amp power sockets & extension cables will be required. Reckies, Get in & Get Out Reckie: Minimum x1 visit to each venue, to reckie all spaces, ensure the venue is suitable and establish suitable spaces for presenting the show in. Venue Programmer, Technical &/or Production Manager and FOH Manager should be available for meetings on reckie day.

Get In:

3 days (2 days to install installation, 1 day to rework the show for its new spaces). Get Out: 4 hours get out. Performance Duration … Generally 1 1.15 hours. However, duration does vary according to the nature of the spaces available for performance and quantity of installation elements included in performance (dictated by spaces). Company on tour … 3 Performers/Directors. 1 Production Manager. … Venues will be requested to provided 2 ASMs/Ushers to assist with the set up, co-ordination and invigilation of the performance. Audience Capacity … Restricted capacity - usually set at 15, due to intimate nature of the performance, spaces used. … Capacity is set in accordance with venue local licensing regulations.

Press cuttings:

The Herald (Mary Brennan) Thursday August 25, 2005 *****

The seamless blend of whimsical humour and shrewd social comment, the quaint little songs and utterly magical miniature artifact they all line up as evidence for the existence of a bold and creative vision and a fanciful, witty resourcefulness. Hallmarks, really of Kazuko Hohki¹s work. Japanese-born, London-based for several years now, Hohki draws selectively on the different cultural mindsets to produce captivating pieces that tickle you into laughing while tricking you into thinking. Here she echoes the familiar children¹s story of unseen wee folk Œborrowing¹ a livelihood from humans, to examine the notions of Œalien¹ identity, consumerism, art and commercial imperatives, recycling cults, belief systems, Œhappy pills¹ and con-tricks her mesh of interconnecting themes expands in so many cunning directions. At times the presentation favours pseudo-scientific facts, other times it veers into wistful personal anecdote, before ending in a concert of Borrower-music, played on teensy spoon guitar and paper-clip piano. Add in a merry promenade round Theatre Workshop¹s hidden nooks and crannies, with Hohki¹s talented collaborators Andy Cox and Mervyn Millar conspiring in the Happiness for Everyone mantra that conditions every action, and you start longing to be in BIN (Borrowers International Network) with them. One of the most enticing, roguishly clever productions on the Fringe try to buy or Œborrow¹ a ticket before the run ends on Saturday.

www.britishtheatreguide.co.uk (Ray Brown) August, 2005 *****

Kazuko Hohki, founder of the eighties group Frank Chickens, is utterly believable in this astonishing drama-installation. She leads her audiences of fifteen to twenty through the backrooms and workrooms of Edinburgh's Theatre Workshop and displays the results of her research into Borrower's culture. (Borrowers, the 'fictional' (?) small creatures who live under our floorboards, first described by Mary Norton). A story unfolds, Ms Hohki lost her highly paid drugs research job and she knows why: Borrowers were running off with the happiness 'Zenpils.' And so on. The installations are hosted by Ms Hohki, founder member of BIN (Borrowers International Network), Mr Andy, BIN Treasurer (musician Andy Cox) and Dr Mervyn, who is obviously the 'brainy' one (Mervyn Millar). We are shown artefacts and interactive displays; we are given mini-lectures, songs, audiovisual performance in a filing cabinet and - wondrous this! - a performance of genuine, traditional Borrower music on reproduction Borrower's instruments (Binstruments). Mr Andy also plays some early Borrower Delta Blues (on the teaspoon guitar) and gives a thankfully brief taste of the modern musical deviation, heavy metal. There are passing references to New Age Borrowers, the threat to the continued existence of Borrower culture and the fact that BobB501, an internet using Borrower, is now forging links between Human Beans and Borrowers. The whole show is an existential paradox. An unbelievable barminess is presented with such quiet, joyful, intelligent intensity that not only is the audience left bemused and delighted - we are also moved. And we are convinced! Not of the existence of Borrowers, but the existence of BIN. As the BIN people say - 'Happiness For Everyone.' For me this was easily the best show in town.

The Guardian (Lyn Gardner) Tuesday October 12, 2004 ***

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/critic/review/0,1169,1325290,00.html

Delightfully batty and bizarrely charming, this piece from Kazuko Hohki offers happiness for everyone as it promotes cultural exchange between Borrowers - the tiny people who live under the floorboards in Mary Norton's books - and "human beans". The conceit is that Hohki, a scientist who created the Zen pill, has been sacked from her job in Japan after a number of the pills went missing. Hohki believes Borrowers were responsible, and after setting up the Borrower International Network (BIN) via the internet comes to Clapham in search of the mysterious Bob B501, who she believes is a Borrower. As secretary of BIN she welcomes the audience to her conference, taking us all over the BAC building to show us evidence of Borrower activity and artefacts. You can spend a happy few moments playing Borrower table football and crazy golf (or Bolf as it is known), consider a number of important objects (or Bobjects), use a stethoscope to hear the anguish of baby Borrowers being punished, and hear a Borrower concert in the BAC attic. Presented entirely deadpan, the show can be enjoyed merely as a wonderfully eccentric piece of hokum, but would seem to me to have greater depths. Above all, it is a metaphysical journey into the nature of faith and belief. Hohki might just be insane, she might be a con artist (the availability of the paperclip piano at £1,000 suggests this) - or she could be a true guru who has found the secret of happiness: total faith in the existence of something that can't be proved.

The Times (Donald Hutera) 14/10/04 ****

The creative springboard for Kazuko Hohki¹s Evidence for the Existence of Borrowers, part of the BAC¹s Octoberfest of experimental performance, is Mary Norton¹s children¹s book about the wee people who dwell beneath our floor-boards and pilfer small human items for their own sustenance and comfort. The show is both a site-specific theatrical installation tour of this small but thriving London venue and a gentle satire of the pseudo-corporate lunatic fringe. Hohki assumes the identity of a disgraced scientist who is also secretary of BIN (Borrowers International Network). Its mission is to protect and promote the lives and culture of the Borrowers. Not that Hohki and her colleagues have ever met one. But, as they believe, the evidence is out there. Way out there. Situated in the BAC bar, the BIN Education Centre contains interactive exhibitions (one measures the contrasting speeds of a cat and a philosopher) and artefacts (including a ruined set of Milanese pasta furniture). A room offers a tabletop sports arena. An adjacent table holds shoebox and newspaper stack dwellings viewed through peepholes: glimpse the tiny pool table, shower and walls decorated with posters of such height challenged heroes as Ronnie Corbett and Tom Cruise. The success of this meticulously designed, well thought out and fragile entertainment depends in part on how much curiosity, belief and delight each audience member (there are only 15 per show) is willing to invest in its benign dementia. Exuding a crackpot charm with a touch of creepiness, Hohki¹s polite, soft-spoken alter ego won me over. Her pill-popping mantra ³Happiness for Everyone² punctuates the show¹s culminatory concert in the BAC¹s attic, the Borrowers¹ Wembley arena. There Miss Hohki and BIN treasurer Mr Andy (Cox, member of UK pop groups the Beat and Fine Young Cannibals) play such ingenious ³Binstruments² as spoon guitar and paper clip piano. Weird and rather wonderful.

Total Theatre (Dorothy Max Prior) Issue 17 Volume 1 Spring 2005

Happiness for everyone! is the catchphrase of the Borrowers International Network, which (we are led to believe by Hohki and her collaborators, Andy Cox and Mervyn Millar) was set up to promote cultural exchange between Borrowers and Human Beans. We start with an introductory lecture on the organisation¹s valuable work, then are taken on a tour around all sorts of hidden corners of BAC, including the roof space where we sit precariously balanced between beams listening to a concert played on Binstruments mini instruments made from spoons, pins and teeny wooden boxes. This promenade piece is a delight particularly for anyone familiar with Mary Norton¹s stories of tiny people who live beneath the floorboards. We experience Borrowers¹ homes through peepholes, play miniature hockey, enter a museum of Borrowers¹ art and artefacts, read e-mails from a Borrower who has made contact (although sadly couldn¹t be with us that evening) and see a mini singing person in the bottom drawer of a filing cabinet. An especially lovely touch is the little clues all around the building, not drawn attention to a clothes peg here, a match box there. There are moments when the conceit of the piece flags - I grew a wee bit tired of the Network but this is a minor gripe. Its strength lies in the ingenious artistic concept, the meticulous making skills, the music (with contributions by Hohki, Cox and Clive Bell) and engaging performances that brings the audience into its alternative reality with a complete suspension of disbelief. Now, everyone who believes in Borrowers, clap your handsŠ

For Further Information. Please contact Kazuko Hohki C/O Joanna Crowley, Producer Address Kazuko Hohki C/O BAC Lavender Hill Battersea London SW11 5TN Phone +44 (0)20 7223 0086 Fax +44 (0)20 7978 5207 Email jo@kazukohohki.com Website www.kazukohohki.com Evidence For The Existence Of Borrowers

Binstruments and Zenpil are both on sale on the site:www.borrowersreunited.com