Mahabharata is a brand new piece of dance theatre and a contemporary vision of the epic ancient Indian poem. This powerful production features an international ensemble of 26 dancers, singers and musicians, and a specially composed score by celebrated musician, Nitin Sawhney. The productions has its world premiere at Sadler's Wells on Wednesday 25 April 2007 and tours the UK until July 2007.

The ensemble cast creates the story of the Mahabharata as seen through the eyes of Draupadi; a woman who defies her destiny to become wife to five brothers and who, lost in a game of dice, becomes the catalyst for the world's most terrible war.

Directed by Stuart Wood and written by Olivier Award-winning lyricist Stephen Clark, the story inhabits a mythic world created through dance, song, spoken verse, Sanskrit prayer, chant and choric storytelling, reflecting the classic Indian tradition with a contemporary sensibility. Stuart Wood says "it is more than 20 years since Peter Brooks' seminal version of the Mahabharata. It's now time that this extraordinary story can be seen again in a new light."

Multi-award winning Nitin Sawhney returns to Sadler's Wells after creating the score for Akram Khan's critically acclaimed zero degrees. Alistair Spalding says "Nitin Sawhney's renowned ability to create a contemporary sound combining Western and Indian traditions makes it absolutely fitting for him to take on the music score for a modern-day Mahabharata. I'm sure that this, his first major score for dance theatre will re-affirm his place as one of today's most prolific, influential and diverse music makers."

Gauri Sharma Tripathi, one of the country's leading kathak exponents and choreographer for Akram Khan, has created a new dance language for the piece, using a kathak vocabulary seen through a contemporary dance perspective. This language is enriched through puppetry work created by Sue Buckmaster Artistic Director of Theatre Rites.

SYNOPSIS OF THE MAHABHARATA

Originally written in more than one hundred and ten thousand stanzas the Mahabharata is considered the cornerstone of ancient Indian legend. The central story is a family feud between two groups of rival cousins, the five Pandavas and the hundred Kauravas.

Arjuna, second of the Pandava brothers wins the hand of the beautiful princess Draupadi at an archery contest. Taking his prize home, his mother unwittingly tells him to share it with his brothers. No word, once uttered in Mahabharata can be undone, and she is married to all five brothers. Duryodhana, eldest of the Kauravas is born to the sound of wolves and jackals. He is consumed by greed and hate of the Panadavas. Knowing Yudhistira, head of the Pandavas, and his weakness for gambling, he challenges him to a game of dice.

Intoxicated by the game, Yudishtira loses everything; lands, kingdom, his brothers, himself, even Draupadi. She is about to be stripped naked in front of the court when Krishna intervenes and performs a miracle to protect her modesty. Finally the Pandavas are condemned to thirteen years in exile. Draupadi swears revenge on the Kauravas. She shames her reluctant husbands to fight.

On the verge of the battle, Arjuna surveys all the kin who will be slain and cannot face his part in it. Krishna, his charioteer, stops the wheel of time and delivers the Bhagavad Gita. He reveals he is the Lord of the Universe and imbues Arjuna with a deeper understanding of his dharma.

The battle begins. It is the start of an apocalyptic war which sees mass destruction and bloody atrocity. When the war is finally over, and almost all soldiers on both sides are dead, one of the few survivors of Durydhan's camp kills Draupadi's children in their sleep. Hate and revenge never seem to end. Yet Draupadi unexpectedly turns the wheel of fate in a new direction.

Kathak is the story-telling dance tradition of Northern India. It combines virtuosic physical dexterity, energy and passion (Flamenco derives from Kathak) with a narrative sensibility. It combines sculptural beauty with a dance idiom that directly explores the themes and events in the world of the Mahabharata and the cosmos of the Hindu Gods.

MAHABHARATA UK TOUR

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