Co-directed with Marie-Hélène Estienne, it touches on our search for reason in a fractured world. In the play, the Bharata family is torn apart by a great war. In the aftermath of the massacre, the victors and the vanquished struggle to make sense of the horrors they have experienced – and perpetrated. It will be performed by Carole Karemera, Jared McNeill, Ery Nzaramba and Sean O’Callaghan.
Prior to London, it will premiere at Théatre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris Sept. 15, 2015, then visit Singapore Repertory Theatre, Tokyo's New National Theatre, Amiens à la Maison de la Culture, Châlons en Champagne at La Comète, NPCA, Mumbai and Hong Kong's the Studio. Following London, it will continue to Rome's Teatro Argentina, Modena's Teatro Storchi, Florencie's Teatro delle Pergola and Madrid's Teatro del Canal, Sala Roja.
In a press statement, the Young Vic's artistic director David Lan commented, "Peter Brook's staging of The Mahabharata is acknowledged as one of the seminal theatre works of the 20th century. Now, in Battlefield, he and his longtime collaborators Marie-Hélène Estienne and Jean-Claude Carrière explore the contemporary immediacy of just one of its many stories: the moment when the heroes of the epic face each other before a great battle. Peter and his team are among our closest theatre friends. We're as delighted as always to welcome them to the Young Vic."
The Young Vic has further announced that Annie Ryan's stage adaptation of Eimear McBride's A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, featuring Aoife Duffin, is to transfer to the theatre's Maria studio, beginning performances Feb. 17 prior to an official opening Feb. 19 for a run through March 19, following a run at the Traverse Theatre as part of this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It will also visit Bristol and Salford before the Young Vic, and will go on to Cardiff and New York's Baryshnikov Arts Center's Jerome Robbins Theater after it.
Mike Bartlett's Bull, which won this year's Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre for its run at the Young Vic in January, will also return to the Maria, beginning performances Dec. 11 prior to an official opening Dec. 15, for a run through Jan. 9. To book tickets, which go on public sale Aug. 5, contact the box office on 020 7922 2922, or visit www.youngvic.org.
