From Kurukshetra to Tokyo: An epic tale

Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya
Navani grhnati naro parani
Tatha sarirani vihaya jirnani
Anyani samyati navani dehi
(As a human casts off old garments to put on new ones
So the soul casts off old bodies to enter other new ones.)

Of the over 100,000 shlokhas that make up the Mahabharata, this one best describes Hiroshi Koike's latest project. For although India's most fabled epic has been interpreted in myriad ways, Koike's rendition will give its essence — its soul — a pan-Asian garb.

The 2011 earthquake and tsunami, says the Japanese stage director, choreographer and president of Tokyo's Performing Art Institute, was a catalyst for imbibing the timeless wisdom of the Mahabharata. At that juncture, he dissolved his 30-year-old production company Pappa Tarahumara in favour of the Hiroshi Koike Bridge Project. Even then, it was about regeneration rather than termination.

"We must bridge the ancient and the present," he says, referring to his efforts to give ancient fables a new lease of life. A case in point is his surrealistic adaptations of The Milky Way Train and The Restaurant with Many Orders — the works of Japanese literary giant Kenji Miyazawa. "We must stand on zero point again and think about the relationship between nature and humans and this world and the other," adds Koike.

Bridging cultural barriers is what he sets out to do in the four-chapter Mahabharata project, which is produced in association with Theatreconnekt Performing Arts Society in Thrissur, Kerala. Each chapter, 75-90 minutes long, is staged in a different country. The first chapter dealing with the backdrop to the Kurukshetra war took place in Vietnam and Cambodia. The second chapter, to be staged in India, revolves around the throw of dice, which sets the tone for the rest of the Mahabharata. The outcome of the war and the final chapter will be staged in Japan and Malaysia.

This interpretation of the Mahabharata is a melange of dance forms, from Japanese Butoh and Balinese mask dance to Kalaripayattu and Bharatanatyam. Upping the challenge quotient is the fact that 35 characters are essayed by just eight performers. "Everybody has plural roles," says Koike. "In order to execute this, we're using masks." The masks are crafted by I Wayan Tangguh, one of Indonesia's most accomplished mask carvers.

The performers essaying the Mahabharata's pivotal characters are representatives of the smorgasbord that is the Asian performance arts. There's Sachiko Sirai, one of Japan's finest ballet dancers, as well as Butoh dancer Lee Swee Kong, Balinese mask dancer Noyano Tetsuro and Thai Lanna dancer Waewdao Sirisook who will perform alongside actor and theatre trainer-director Sreejith Ramanan, danseuse Moon Moon Singh and Kalaripayattu exponents Denny Paul and Sumesh.

Sachiko Sirai, who's worked with Koike for 25 years, is comfortable being part of a 'mixed performance arts' ensemble. "My only challenge is speaking in English. But language is more than words. The Japanese word 'kotodama', meaning 'words have spirit', embodies this. I hope my spirit reaches the audience through Mahabharata," she says.

Lee Swee Keong, founder of Malaysia's only Butoh school Nyoba Kan Butoh Company, echoes Sirai. Characterised by white body makeup and notably slow movements, Butoh shuns codified technique and embraces an ethos that's sometimes described as grotesque, yet hypnotic. Keong marries the dark imagery of this rarified art form with elements of Zen and Tai Chi, making for an avant-garde experience. "There are two sides to everything — darkness and brightness, happiness and sadness, and so on. As with Zen and Butoh," he says.

For Sumesh, who plays Arjuna and Dushasana, Moon Moon Singh, who is Shakuni, Nakula and Prince Uttara, and Denny Paul, who essays five characters, the challenge is juggling plurality. "We've incorporated movements from Kalaripayattu, capoeira and mudras from Indian classical dance," says Paul.

That's not all. Japanese shadow theatre will also find representation here thanks to Tetsuro Koyano. The founder-director of the Bali-based performing arts group Urotsutenoyako Bayangans is more than familiar with the Mahabharata. Indonesia, in fact, has its own version of the Mahabharata called Bharat Yudha. "Mahabharata is especially popular in Bali and Java," says Koyano. "Balinese people often use episodes from Mahabharata for their performing arts, especially for traditional shadow theatre. It's not only entertainment, but also ritual and education. When modern schools didn't exist, people learned a lot through shadow theatre," he explains.

It's perhaps fitting that an epic of this magnitude is being given multiple forms of expression. And Hiroshi Koike, the man who's showcased his projects in 37 countries, has just one request for audiences here: "I've done two shows in India and noticed there's no prohibition on phone calls and chatting during performances. I haven't experienced this elsewhere," he says perplexedly.

Here's hoping he won't have to make this observation again.

Hiroshi Koike's Mahabharata will be performed at the NCPA Experimental Theatre on January 14 at 5:30 pm.