''The Mahabharata'' (french: Le Mahabharata) is a French play, based on the
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
epic
Epic commonly refers to:
* Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation
* Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements
Epic or EPIC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and medi ...
''
Mahābhārata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
'', by
Jean-Claude Carrière
Jean-Claude Carrière (; 17 September 1931 – 8 February 2021) was a French novelist, screenwriter and actor. He received an Academy Award for best short film for co-writing '' Heureux Anniversaire'' (1963), and was later conferred an Honorary ...
, which was first staged in a
quarry just outside
Avignon
Avignon (, ; ; oc, Avinhon, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal or , ; la, Avenio) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Vaucluse Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region of So ...
in a production by the English director
Peter Brook. The play, which is nine hours long in performance (eleven with intervals), toured the world for four years.
[Croyden (2009, 207).] For two years the show was performed both in French and in English (it was translated into English by Brook in 1987). The play is divided into three parts: ''The Game of Dice'', ''The Exile in the Forest'' and ''The War''. In 1989, it was adapted for television as a six-hour
mini series
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
. Later, it was reduced to about three hours as a
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
for theatrical and DVD release. The screenplay was the result of eight years' work by Peter Brook, Jean-Claude Carrière, and
Marie-Hélène Estienne.
Stage history
The original stage play was performed at the 39th Avignon festival, on July 7, 1985, at ''Carrière de Boulbon''. There were 9 representations in a cycle of three plays : "La Partie de dés" (''Dice game'') on 7, 10, 16, 19, 25, 28 July ; "L'Exil dans la forêt" (''The Exil in the forest'') on 8, 11, 17, 20, 26, 29 July ; "La Guerre" (''The War'') on 9, 12, 18, 21, 27, 30 July. And these were played together on ''Night of Mahabharata'', on 13, 22, and 31 July.
The French stage version was produced by:''Centre international de recherche théâtrales-Bouffes du Nord - C.I.R.T'' and the 39th Festival of Avignon (directed by A. Crombecque) and received the support of the French Culture Ministry and the City of Paris. The set design and costumes by Chloé Obolenski ; stage management by Rémi Jullien ; lights by Jean Kalman. The cast included twenty-one performers from sixteen Countries: Joséphine Derenne (Kunti), Maurice Bénichou (Ganesha, Krishna), Pascaline Pointillart (Amba, Subhadra, servante of Gandhari), Mireille Maalouf (Ganga, Gandhari, Gudeshna), Tam Sir Niane (Madri, Hidimbi),
Mallika Sarabhai
Mallika Sarabhai (born 9 May 1954) is an activist and Indian classical dancer and actress from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. Daughter of a classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai and space scientist Vikram Sarabhai, Mallika is an accomplished Kuchipu ...
(Satyavati, Draupadi), Ryszard Cieslak (Dhritarashtra), Clovis (Ekalavya, Uttara, Abhimanyu), Georges Corraface (Dushassana), Jean-Paul Denizon (Nakula, Aswhattaman), Mamadou Dioume (Bhima), Matthias Habich (Yudishthira), Andréas Katsulas (Jayadratha, Salva),
Sotigui Kouyaté
Sotigui Kouyaté (19 July 1936 – 17 April 2010) was one of the first Malian, Burkinabé actors. He was the father of film director Dani Kouyaté, of the storyteller Hassane Kassi Kouyaté and of the actor Mabô Kouyaté
and was a member of th ...
(Bhishma, Parashurama), Alain Maratrat (Vyasa), Clément Masdongar (Shishupala, Ghatotkatcha, eternal young man),
Vittorio Mezzogiorno
Vittorio Mezzogiorno (16 December 1941 – 7 January 1994) was an Italian actor.
Biography
Mezzogiorno was born in Cercola, the youngest of seven children. His older brother Vincenzo, who wanted to become a director, introduced him to the thea ...
(Arjuna), Bruce Myers (Karna), Yoshi Oida (Drona, Kitchaka), Andrzej Seweryn (Duryodhana), Douta Seck (king of fishermen, Shakuni, Virata, Sandjaya), Tapa Sudana (Pandu, Shiva, Shalya), Ken Higelin (child), Lutfi Jakfar (child),
Nicolas Sananikone
Nicolas or Nicolás may refer to:
People Given name
* Nicolas (given name)
Mononym
* Nicolas (footballer, born 1999), Brazilian footballer
* Nicolas (footballer, born 2000), Brazilian footballer
Surname Nicolas
* Dafydd Nicolas (c.1705–17 ...
(child), Samon Takahashi (child). The musicians included Djamchid Chemirani (percussions), Kudsi Erguner (ney), Kim Menzer (nagaswaram), Mahmoud Tabrizi-zadeh (kamantche), Toshi Tsuchitori (percussions).
Critical reception
In a long article in 1985, ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' registered the "overwhelming critical acclaim" the production received and that the play "did nothing less than attempt to transform Hindu myth into universalized art, accessible to any culture". However, many postcololonial scholars have challenged the claim to universalism, accusing the play of
orientalism
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
. For instance, Gautam Dasgupta writes that, "Brook's ''Mahabharata'' falls short of the essential Indianness of the epic by staging predominantly its major incidents and failing to adequately emphasize its coterminous philosophical precepts."
See also
* ''
Battlefield''
Notes
Sources
*
Carrière, Jean-Claude. 1987. ''The Mahabharata.'' Trans.
Peter Brook. Methuen Modern Plays ser. London: Methuen. .
* Croyden, Margaret. 1985. "Peter Brook Transforms an Indian Epic for the Stage." ''The New York Times'', August 25, 1985. Web. Accessed 2015-12-16
* ---. 2009. ''Conversations with Peter Brook, 1970-2000.'' New York: Theatre Communications Group. .
* Elsom, John. 1998. "Brook, Peter" In ''The Cambridge Guide to Theatre.'' Ed. Martin Banham. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . 132-133.
External links
French National Library database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahabharata
Works based on the Mahabharata
1985 plays
Plays based on books