Theatre
The Mahabharata (Old Museum of Transport, Glasgow)
Epic grandeur
Christopher Edwards
Peter Brook's remarkable production of the ancient Sanskrit epic poem The Mahabharata arrives in Glasgow after a world tour that has taken it to Adelaide, Los Angeles, New York, Copenhagen and Perth. It is everything that the tidal wave of popular and critical acclaim suggests — a brilliantly theatrical piece of stagecraft that covers a vast human and historical canvas. It achieves a thrilling directness by means of theatrical resources that are at once simple and highly sophisticated. It is morally complex, deeply moving and.fun- ny, but also succeeds in sustaining a level of narrative excitement that is both grip- ping and majestic. It has local episodic pace and the broad, sweeping range appropriate to its epic source.
The Sanskrit title of the work means 'great poem of the world'. Its scale more than justifies this boast. The Mahabharata tells the story of two warring families the Kauravas and their exiled cousins the Pandavas. We are taken back to their early, magical origins, through a bitter internecine rivalry, which leads to their mutual search for sacred weapons of des- truction, and on to the apocalyptic 18-day battle when the fate of the whole world is decided. There is nothing remotely homile- tic about this production, but in a modern world (riot to mention a modern India) possessed of destructive, nuclear capability this mythological story has a pointed rele- vance for our time.
The poem is at the core of Hindu culture in India and South East Asia, and has become, over the course of 3,000 years, the main .source of Hindu drama, story-telling, popular folklore, puppet shows, films and strip cartoons. But the one thing Brook and his adapter Jean-Claude Carriere have not tried to do is to reconstruct an historic world of Hindu symbolism. There are, for instance, numerous parallels draivn from Western traditions — Homer and Shakespeare in particular. But, in fact, the Miriam Goldschmidt as Kunti, mother of the Pandavas, in Brook's magnificent Glasgow production of 'The Mahabharata'. Photograph by Sarah Ainslie. conventions adopted cover a catholic range, an aspect that is perfectly reflected in the different nationalities and accents of Brook's cast — African, Italian, Chinese, Polish, Indian, French and English: Brook's achievement is to have welded such diversity into a bold, unified theatrical style — the fruit of nine years' labour.
The cycle last nine hours and is divided into three separate pieces, The Game of Dice, Exile in the Forest and The War. Each piece can be seen individually on separate nights, or there are marathon performances of all three at one sitting. The Game of Dice opens by introducing us to the poet narrator, Vyasa (Robert Lang- don Lloyd), who announces to a child that he is going to tell him the history of his race. Enter GaneSha (Bruce Myers), a god with an elephant's head, who offers himself as scribe. We hear how the Pandava dynasty is founded by a king and Ganga, goddess of the river. The hundred Kaura- vas are born from a huge boulder that has to be beaten out Of their mother's womb with an iron bar. Dhritarashtra, the blind king (played by Ryszard Cieslak), is their father. His first son; Duryodhana (Georges Corraface), carries destruction with him right from the moment of his terrifying, furious arrival in the world.
Meanwhile, our two narrators observe, explain, participate (Vyasa, for instance, playS his own ancestor and first protagon- ist, King Santanu) and interrupt the action (often comically) to complain that matters are running on too fast for anyone to follow. At one point there arrives on the scene a dangerous newcomer, Kama (Jef- fery Kissoon). He is a match for the Pandavas' leading archer and immediately sides with their hostile cousins. He is clearly an important charaeter, but this is the first we have heard of hint. Who is he and where does his prodigious skill derive from? The story is interrupted while the Sun comes on to show us how he seduced Kunti. As Kunti is also the mother of the Pandavas this makes Karna their unknown brother, a significant strand in the story as it unfolds later.
Do not be put off by these vain efforts to explain some of the narrative threads. The production tells the complex epic tale vividly and with crystal clarity. Above all, Brook sustains a level of Simple, inventive theatricality that can be quite breathtak- ing. The elements are a constant presence: a river runs through the stage of red earth, and fires and flares are constantly lit. The costumes are beautiful, and the musical accompaniment (especially, in the latter stages, Toshi Tsuchitori's astonishing per- cussion) plays a powerful role. But what endures in the memory are glowing images that illuminate both the story and the whole art of theatre. At one key moment of disagreement a trail of fire races along the red earth. The mimed flight of arrows is complemented by the swishing noises of bamboos. A raised wooden pallet becomes a chariot of battle. Within these images there is also the mesmerising emotional truth expressed by this international troupe of actors. There has been nothing like Brook's Mahabharata in my theatre-going experience. The production runs until 17 May (box office telephone 041-227 5511).
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