The magisterial Sanskrit poem comprising the Mahabharata is so epic in scope – around 75,000 verses and three million words – that it seems eminently sensible for it to be staged in two-parts over five hours (or seven, with intervals that include the option of a communal meal and storytelling).
Yet this show is positively economical in comparison to Peter Brook’s seminal adaptation from the 1980s, which was performed at almost double this length. Where that has since met with charges of orientalism, this production by Canadian company Why Not Theatre has authenticity at its heart, led by South Asian artists and combining classical elements with modern. The result is magisterial in its own right, meticulous and dazzling in parts, although the second act, with its large-scale projections and chandeliered opulence, leaves us rather coldly removed.
