Peter Brook revisits THE MAHABHARATA with BATTLEFIELD at the BAM Harvey (photo by Caroline Moreau)
Brooklyn Academy of Music
BAM Harvey Theater
651 Fulton St.
September 28 – October 9, $30-$110
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
www.bouffesdunord.com
In 1985, BAM president and executive director Harvey Lichtenstein was looking for a special space where he could present Peter Brook’s extraordinary nine-hour epic, The Mahabharata, in Brooklyn. Two days after giving up, he suddenly saw the abandoned Majestic movie house, which he passed by on his way to BAM every day, and immediately summoned Brook. The two men climbed a ladder and got inside through a window, and they instantly knew they had found a home for the epic theater piece, which ran at what would become the BAM Harvey as part of the 1987 Next Wave Festival. Brook, who has also staged such works as The Cherry Orchard, The Man Who, and The Suit at BAM, will be back at the Harvey with Battlefield, a seventy-minute exploration of the central story of The Mahabharata. The collaboration with Marie-Hélène Estienne for their C.I.C.T. — Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord troupe runs September 28 through October 9, featuring music by Toshi Tsuchitori, lighting by Philippe Vialatte, and costumes by Oria Puppo. The ninety-one-year-old Brook will participate in a discussion following the October 6 performance. Based on the ancient Sanskrit text and the 1989 play written by Jean-Claude Carrière, the production is also part of the Paris-New York Tandem cultural initiative that highlights film, music, theater, dance, education, and more in the two cities.