Kurō Tanino’s Sleeping Fires comes to Pireos 260 for its greek premiere

The Athens Epidaurus Festival presents Sleeping Fires, the latest production by acclaimed Japanese director and playwright Kurō Tanino, on 27 and 28 June 2026 at Pireos 260 (Space H).

Born blind, Iku lives in the mountains with her partner, navigating the world by “reading” bodies and emotions through the heightened sensitivity of her hands. When Sayo, a young apprentice learning the art of massage, arrives, the delicate balance of Iku’s life begins to shift. As their relationship deepens, their apprenticeship gradually becomes a space where hidden wounds, suppressed desires, and unspoken anger surface.

Inspired by the history of blind massage practitioners in Japan, Sleeping Fires is set in a mountainous region north of Edo, present-day Tokyo. While blind men were historically protected through the hierarchical Tōdōza guild system, blind women remained largely excluded, without comparable social or economic recognition. Against this historical backdrop, Tanino explores not only structures of marginalisation but also the unexpected forms of freedom that can emerge beyond dominant social systems.

Created with the participation of performers with visual impairments, the production invites audiences to experience the world beyond sight, engaging instead with sound, rhythm, scent, and touch. Within a theatrical universe that is both realistic and poetic, Sleeping Fires reflects on pain, solitude, friendship, bodily autonomy, and human connection as an act of care. The result is a quietly powerful winter tale in which the body becomes a site of knowledge, resistance, and tenderness.

One of Japan’s most distinctive contemporary theatre-makers, Kurō Tanino appears in Greece for the first time with this new work, produced by his company Niwa Gekidan Penino in collaboration with Hong Kong’s No Limits International Inclusive Arts Festival.

Commissioned by No Limits and produced by Niwa Gekidan Penino, Sleeping Fires premiered at the 2026 edition of the No Limits Festival in Hong Kong.