Reviewed by:

• Mahabharata by Ravi Jain and Miriam Fernandes
• Stephen Low

The Mahabharata is an ancient Sanskrit epic poem that is rarely performed on contemporary stages. Toronto’s Why Not Theatre, in association with the Barbican in London and the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, have brought this Indian epic to life for contemporary audiences.

Director Ravi Jain and associate director Miriam Fernandes adapted the Mahabharata—using poetry from Carole Satyamurti’s Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling (2015)—into a two-part, six-hour theatrical experience. Transforming the Mahabharata—which includes many sacred texts in the Hindu religious tradition, such as the Bhagavad Gita and an abbreviated version of the Ramayana—is a fraught task that involves making difficul choices, especially when it comes to cutting, abridging, and altering language, stories, and ideas that have deep spiritual meaning for many people around the world. As the playwrights’ note for this production contends, there are “as many Mahabharatas as there are storytellers.” This multiplicity is reflected in Jain and Fernandes’ adaption and in a production that was ancient and contemporary, secular and spiritual, earthly and divine.

The first part of this two-part epic, Karma: The Life We Inherit, began with Fernandes, as the Storyteller, stepping into a circle of red sand sprinkled on the stage, with the other members of the cast sitting on stools outside of it. By simply stepping over the perimeter of red sand into the circle, she established the formal performance space. She then lit a flame in a wide-mouthed metal bowl that she placed outside the circle. Fernandes, as the Storyteller, explained to King Janamejaya why he should show mercy to the snakes of the world; he was about to sacrifice several to a holy flame to avenge his father’s death by venomous snakebite. This scenario acted as the framing narrative within which the Storyteller narrated the other tales that make up the Mahabharata. The flame Fernandes lit provided a sense of religious ritual to the proceedings but also stood in for the flame over which the snakes were held aloft as the King considered their fate. This initial framing was represented by a curtain of ropes, echoing the shape of snakes, hanging along the back of the stage. At first, this curtain of ropes appeared to be the sort of backstage mechanism present in any theatre—perhaps cords used to hoist scenery into the fly space above—which had been left exposed. But at a critical moment, they were raised up to represent the snakes that the King and his priests held over the flame before the entreaties of the Storyteller succeeded in making them pause their vengeful ritual. The Storyteller related the tales of the Mahabharata to the King to demonstrate that revenge begets revenge, establishing an endless cycle of violence. To persuade the King to break this cycle with an act of forgiveness and love, the Storyteller recounted the events that led to the inevitable war between the Pandavas, King Janamejaya’s ancestors, and their cousin Duryodhana and his hundred brothers, the Kauravas. In this first part, the Storyteller provided explanations for certain mystical curses or blessings that some of the characters had upon them, which determined the action of the looming conflict—which was in turn central to the second part of the performance.

Ellora Patnaik (Kunti) in Mahabharata. (Photo: David Cooper.)

Part 2, Dharma: The Life We Choose, focused on the story of the Kurukshetra War between the Kauravas and the Pandavas. In contrast to part 1, which did not include much of a set except the red sand and stools, the royal setting of much of the action of the second part was intimated by chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and oriental rugs laying across the stage, between which sat more red sand. After the war unleashed devastating violence and much death, part 2 concluded with the decision of King Janamejaya to grant clemency to the snakes. These stories and stories within stories...

 审阅者：

• 
  拉维·贾恩 (Ravi Jain) 和米里亚姆·费尔南德斯 (Miriam Fernandes) 的《摩诃婆罗多》
•  斯蒂芬·洛

《摩诃婆罗多》是一首古老的梵文史诗，在当代舞台上很少演出。多伦多 Why Not 剧院与伦敦巴比肯艺术中心和安大略省滨湖尼亚加拉的邵氏音乐节合作，为当代观众呈现了这部印度史诗。

导演拉维·杰恩 (Ravi Jain) 和副导演米里亚姆·费尔南德斯 (Miriam Fernandes) 将《摩诃婆罗多》改编成两部分、时长六小时的戏剧体验，其中使用了卡罗尔·萨蒂亚穆蒂 (Carole Satyamurti) 的《摩诃婆罗多：现代重述》(2015) 中的诗歌。改造《摩诃婆罗多》——其中包括印度宗教传统中的许多神圣文本，例如《薄伽梵歌》和《罗摩衍那》的缩略版——是一项艰巨的任务，需要做出艰难的选择，尤其是在剪切、删节和改变语言方面对世界各地许多人来说具有深刻精神意义的故事和想法。正如剧作家在这部作品的注释中所言，“有多少讲故事的人，就有多少摩诃婆罗多”。这种多样性体现在贾恩和费尔南德斯的改编作品中，以及古代与现代、世俗与精神、尘世与神圣的作品中。

这部由两部分组成的史诗片《因果报应：我们继承的生活》的第一部分以费尔南德斯作为讲故事的人开始，他走进舞台上洒满的红沙圈，其他演员坐在外面的凳子上。只需跨过红沙的边缘进入圆圈，她就建立了正式的表演空间。然后，她在一个放在圆圈外面的广口金属碗里点燃了火焰。费尔南德斯作为故事讲述者，向贾纳梅贾亚国王解释了为什么他应该对世界上的蛇仁慈；他正准备将几条蛇献祭给圣火，为他被毒蛇咬死的父亲报仇。这个场景充当了框架叙事，故事讲述者在其中讲述了构成《摩诃婆罗多》的其他故事。费尔南德斯点燃的火焰为仪式提供了一种宗教仪式感，但也代表了国王考虑蛇的命运时高举蛇的火焰。这个最初的框架由悬挂在舞台后面的绳帘代表，与蛇的形状相呼应。起初，这道绳帘似乎是任何剧院中都存在的那种后台机构——也许是用来将布景提升到上方飞行空间的绳索——它是暴露在外的。但在关键时刻，它们被举起来代表国王和他的祭司们举在火焰上的蛇，然后故事讲述者的恳求成功地让他们暂停了复仇仪式。说书人向国王讲述了《摩诃婆罗多》的故事，以表明复仇招致复仇，从而建立了无休止的暴力循环。 为了说服国王以宽恕和爱的行为打破这个循环，讲故事的人讲述了导致贾纳梅贾亚国王的祖先潘达瓦家族与他们的表弟杜尤丹纳和他的一百个兄弟考拉瓦家族之间不可避免的战争的事件。在第一部分中，讲故事的人对某些角色身上的某些神秘诅咒或祝福进行了解释，这些诅咒或祝福决定了迫在眉睫的冲突的行动，而这又是表演第二部分的核心。

《摩诃婆罗多》中的埃洛拉·帕特奈克 (Kunti)。 （照片：大卫·库珀。）

第二部分，佛法：我们选择的生活，重点讲述考拉瓦人和潘达瓦人之间的库茹柴陀战争的故事。与第一部分相比，第一部分除了红沙和凳子之外没有太多布景，第二部分的大部分动作的皇家背景是通过天花板上悬挂的枝形吊灯和舞台上铺着的东方地毯来暗示的。其中坐的红沙较多。战争爆发了毁灭性的暴力和大量死亡后，第二部分以贾纳梅贾亚国王决定宽恕这些蛇而结束。这些故事和故事中的故事......