June 7, 2019

Shaw Festival to see major mounting of Sanskrit epic The Mahabharata from Why Not Theatre

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By J. KELLY NESTRUCK

Three decades after British director Peter Brook's version of the The Mahabharatatook the Western theatre world by storm, Toronto's Why Not Theatre is teaming up with the Shaw Festival to create a major new stage adaptation of the ancient Sanskrit epic poem featuring a cast from the South Asian diaspora, The Globe and Mail has learned.

Fuelled by a $375,000 New Chapter grant from the Canada Council, Why Not's production will be the biggest ever mounted by the accomplished independent theatre company – and will premiere as part of the 2019 Shaw season in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., before embarking on what is expected to be an international tour.

Why Not's artistic director Ravi Jain and New York director Jenny Koons are co-directing the project – which will have an initial workshop this December with a cast of nine in London, organized with the support of Complicité, the British company run by acclaimed director Simon McBurney.

Source: The Globe and Mail 

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