Mahabharata

One of the headliner International performances of this year’s Perth Festival, this epic Indian story is presented by Canadian company Why Not Theatre. A shorter version of this story than we have seen in Perth before, this ancient story plays in two parts (each with an interval) and runs just under 5 hours.

The first part, ‘Karma’, begins with band and actors on an almost bare His Majesty’s stage with back and side walls visible. Musicians in a semi-circle play music composed by John Gzowski and Suba Sankaran, based on traditional music - with consultation from Hasheel Lodhia, as the narrator begins to tell the story.

Our narrator, playing Vyasa (presumably a shortening of traditional narrator Vaishampayana) is a storyteller in the true sense of the word, being co-author of the production. An outstanding performer, she has the audience in the palm of her hand throughout both parts of the epic tale.

The actors, sitting on stage in almost Brechtian style, step up to play multiple characters, at first donning simple accoutrements to aid in characterisation, but as the epic builds, costumes become more and more elaborate as a set forms around them.

As the show progresses into the second part, ‘Dharma’, the production becomes more and more interdisciplinary, and while we never forget the “Indianness” of this piece there is a more obvious blend of traditional and modern and a blend of East and West. We see a variety of Indian dance forms and in the latter part of ‘Dharma’ there is an Opera in Sanskrit. There is use of projection and live video (with a documentary feel), giving us great variety as the production moves seamlessly between storytelling forms.

While of obvious appeal to people from Indian backgrounds and Indiaphiles (judging from the amount of Indian dress in the audience) this was a truly multinational production that delighted in sharing this 4000 year old epic story. A theatre piece with true ‘Festival’ feel, this Australian exclusive was a wonderful choice from Perth Festival, and a joy to experience.

Kimberley Shaw

Photographer: Apurva Gupta