London
Battlefield
Based on the Mahabharata and the play by Jean-Claude Carrière
Adapted by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne
Young Vic Theatre to 27 Feb,
66 The Cut,
London SE1 8LZ
7.45pm
Runs: 70 mins without interval
TICKETS: 020 7922 2922.
www.youngvictheatre.org
Discounts including under 26s (£10); free to Southwark and Lambeth residents,
phone 0207 922 2920 (Mon-Sat, 10am-6pm)
Review by: Carole Woddis of performance seen Feb 11, 2016:
Still going strong, and still unique
An encounter with the theatre of Peter Brook these days is not so much an escape as an audience with the Master, such is the reverence in which understandably he is now held. You have to pinch yourself that at 91, amazingly, he is still making international theatre. The kind of theatre Brook makes, too, is unique: as pure as a child’s soul, as wise as the oldest guru.
Not I suspect that Brook would thank me for describing his latest import to the Young Vic in such hallowed terms. Brook’s professional career has been dedicated to the exploration of theatre. As the years have gone by, his style has become more and more austere, pared down to bare essentials. But equally, he has always been mindful of the indispensable element that makes theatre what it is – the audience and their enjoyment.
So solemnity goes hand in hand with mischievousness, nowhere better exemplified in Battlefield than after half an hour’s story-telling and a section describing a king giving away his wealth to the poor, the dread-locked Ery Nzaramba suddenly turns to an audience member and directly addresses him, with a twinkled eye asking, `are you poor?’. The man breaks into a smile and the audience becomes complicit. Suddenly, we are in the palm of Nzaramba – and the company’s – hands.
Based on the Mahabharata and the play by Jean-Claude Carrière, Battlefield concerns a dynastic war between two families, the Kauravas and Pandavas, its deadly cost in terms of lives lost and its aftermath – the search for redemption and inner peace.
Its relevance to today could hardly be more apposite and the style Brook adopts characteristically is one of storytelling, of allegory. Told on a simple stage with actors marked by vivid scarlet robes and occasionally yellow, the sense of the universal and timeless, of a ritual told in a temple from where the wisdom of ages is imparted, is unmistakeable.
Majestic is the only word for it, not always moving in the sentimental sense but unquestionably something profound is being transmitted and given a haunting resonant otherness by Brook’s revered collaborator, the remarkable Japanese musician, Toshi Tsuchitori’s solo drumming.
Listen and learn!
Battlefield
Based on the Mahabharata and the play by Jean-Claude Carrière
Adapted by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne
Cast:
With Carole Karemera
Jared McNeill
Ery Nzaramba
Sean O’Callaghan
Musician:
Toshi Tsuchitori
Adapted and directed by Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne
Light: Philippe Vialatte
Music: Toshi Tsuchitori
Costumes: Oria Puppo
Co-produced by Young Vic, The Grotowski Institute, PARCO Co. Ltd/Toyko,
Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, Singapore Repertory Theatre,
Le Théâtre de Liêge and C.I.R.T
Battlefield premiered at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord on Sept 15, 2015.
First performed at the Young Vic, London, Feb 3, 2016
2016-02-15 11:08:27
