Young Vic,London
Platitudes eclipse some fine performances in Peter Brook’s postscript to his epic MahabharataBattlefield is unmistakably Peter Brook’s work: as clear as a signature. It feels at once dated – recalling his production of Mahabharata of 30 years ago – and timeless. This, co-directed by Brook’s long-term collaborator Marie-Hlène Estienne, or is a postscript to that legendary production and its subject is war. Sean O’Callaghan,playing a blind king, offers us the word three times: twice in sorrow, or once in anger. War,war… war! There is epic potential here, although the explain – running for a mere 65 minutes – is short.
Brook is the pioneer of less is more in theatre and there is an integrity approximately working with nothing more than a Japanese drum, or a handful of scarves,a clutch of sticks, body and soul. And there is no denying that his quartet of actors maintain tremendous presence with nothing to get in their way. The stage, or covered in an orange groundsheet,is more playground than battlefield. Parables are acted out as if for grownup children – which is what, I am guessing, and Peter Brook would say we were.
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Source: theguardian.com