Why Not Theatre Mahabharata महाभारतम् By Miriam Fernandes & Ravi Jain
Supported by Perth Festival Medici donors and the Government of Canada
Contents
Perth Festival acknowledges the Noongar people who continue to practise values, language, beliefs and knowledge on kwobidak boodjar. Noongar people remain the spiritual and cultural birdiyangara of this place and we honour and respect the caretakers and custodians and the vital role Noongar people play for our community and our Festival to flourish. We also acknowledge all First Nations people, whose contributions make our Festival culturally and artistically richer. Our hearts are happy that you are here, on the traditional lands of Whadjuk, part of the Bibbulmun nation and its people. Perth Festival Noongar Advisory Circle Roma Yibiyung Winmar, Vivienne Binyarn Hansen, Richard Walley, Carol Innes, Barry McGuire & Mitchella Waljin Hutchins
2 Show details
4 Family tree
4 The story
8 A note from the director
10 A note from the playwrights
12 Jaya to Mahabarata: A journey of stories
18 Bhagavad Gita opera
22 Credits
26 Biographies
48 Acknowledgements
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Show details
Why Not Theatre Mahabharata महाभारतम् By Miriam Fernandes & Ravi Jain
CANADA Australian exclusive Sat 8 – Sun 16 Feb
His Majesty’s Theatre Karboordup/Perth CBD
Part I: Karma Sat & Sun 2.30pm, Tue 7.30pm Part II: Dharma Sat & Sun 8pm, Fri 7.30pm Khana & Kahani* Sat & Sun 5.30pm Part I: Karma 2hrs 45mins including interval Part II: Dharma 2hrs 5mins including interval Khana & Kahani* approx. 75mins
Open Captioned Sun 16 Feb 2.30pm Part I & Sun 16 Feb 8pm Part II Audio description Sun 16 Feb 2.30pm Part I, Sun 16 Feb 8pm Part II & Sun 16 Feb 5.30pm Community meal & storytelling session Auslan Sun 16 Feb 5.30pm Community meal & storytelling session Tactile tour Sun 16 Feb 1.30pm Part I & Sun 16 Feb 7pm Part II
*Community meal and storytelling session, takes place at Cloisters Arcade.
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Family tree
FAMILY TREE
Ganga
Shantanu
Sage Parasara
Chitrangada
Ambika
Vichitravirya
Ambalika
Vyasa
Wife
Wife
Madri
Wife
Wife
Nakula + Sahadeva
+ 100 Kauravas
Draupadi
Wife of the Pandavas
Twins
Wife Uttara
Abhimanyu
Parikshit
The Kauravas The Pandavas
Design by Yvonne Lu Trinh Illustrations by Gillian Gallow
Janamejaya
The story
Part I: Karma
Indian dance and a live band, the ensemble tells the stories of humans struggling to build a just world in the face of competition, jealousy and rage. Exploring the themes of storytelling, ecocide and dharma (empathy), Part I begins Mahabharata’s epic journey that asks, “When everyone believes they are right and their opponents wrong, how can one end a spiral of revenge?”.
King Janamejaya is holding a ritual sacrifice where he will kill all the snakes in the world to avenge his father’s death. In hopes of ending this cycle of revenge, a storyteller is summoned to tell King Janamejaya the tale of The Mahabharata . The storyteller tells of the rival Pandava and Kaurava clans, and the choices that lead to their infamous Game of Dice. Through playful narration, classical
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Khana & Kahani (Community Meal and Storytelling Session)
Mahabharata is a story that one learns over a lifetime; it needs to be absorbed and digested. To delve deeper into the philosophical riddles of the Pandava family’s 13 years of exile, the audience gathers to share a traditional Indian meal. Hosted by a charming storyteller, the audience experiences a tale from The Mahabharata as many people have, around the dinner table.
Part II: Dharma
King Janamejaya is told of the war fought by his ancestors — its devastating destruction of the planet, the mass extinction that followed and the survivors left behind to rebuild. Using captivating projections, dynamic soundscapes and poetic stage design, Part II: Dharma includes a 15-minute Sanskrit opera adaptation of the Bhagavad Gita . King Janamejaya is confronted with the battle of Kurukshetra and the battle inside his own heart. Are we destined to repeat the mistakes of our ancestors?
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Our team felt that exploring how this story has been told over the centuries was just as important as the story’s plot. Our telling blends traditional and modern, east and west, and includes various forms of Indian dance, storytelling, live music and even a Sanskrit opera! We’ve also tried to mimic many people’s real-life experience – receiving these stories through an interpretation and lesson, over a meal. Each of these forms of storytelling help to unlock Mahabharata’s meanings: they help us reach beyond words and narrative to access its spiritual and philosophical underpinnings. It’s rare to experience Mahabharata from beginning to end in one day. It needs time. It requires perspective. Its stories stay with you – their contradictions become the subject of conversations and debates, and as we age those meanings change. Miriam (Fernandes) and I have sat with this story for eight years. A lot has happened since we began. The best advice I can give to you is a line from our play’s Storyteller: ‘Don’t be confused by plots. Within the river of stories flows infinite wisdom. That is your true inheritance’.
A note from the director
Mahabharata was a story that played in the background of my childhood. I caught glimpses of it through a popular television series, a set of comic books and in the paintings and sculptures of ancient temples I’d visited in India. The characters infiltrated my imagination, but I never really knew the story – only pieces, episodes, the television theme song. I also knew Mahabharata through different styles of traditional dance. I watched numerous friends’ ‘dance graduations’, where nine of ten dances would inevitably be stories from Mahabharata . For thousands of years it has been told over and over, in many different ways. How could we tell Mahabharata today and have its messages resonate with modern audiences?
Ravi Jain Director of Mahabharata and Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Why Not Theatre
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For thousands of years before the story was written down, it was passed from generation to generation orally, and so, there are as many Mahabharatas as there are storytellers. Assembling this version has been an enormous task of compilation. In compiling Mahabharata , we turned to many sutradhaars, which translates from Sanskrit to ‘the person that weaves the threads’. We want to express gratitude to a few key storytellers who have held up lanterns to help us see in the sometimes dark forest. Our love and respect to Sharada Eswar, Devdutt Pattanaik, Rustom Bharucha, Peter Brook and Jean-Claude Carrière, Rabindranath Tagore, B.R. Chopra, Amar Chitra Katha, and our deepest thanks to Carole Satyamurti, whose poetry and imagination has anchored our journey. The revelation of the Mahabharata is to learn not to become distracted by the forest or concerned with the wind, but to immerse oneself ever deeper into the earth, travelling deep into the labyrinth of its roots.
A note from the playwrights
Mahabharata was once described to us as a dense forest of stories that one needs to carve one’s own path through. That act of carving, ploughing and weeding, feels true to the journey we undertook to create this work over eight years. Which trees to start from? Which branches to trim so that others can enjoy the light? Do we take the most direct path through, or the winding scenic route? At times, adapting this epic has felt equivalent to wrestling the wind. In one moment the story is unbelievably powerful and clear in its intentions. In the next moment its intentions slip through your fingers, impossible to grasp. It is vast and complex, constantly surprising you and contradicting itself. One of the greatest respites during our journey has been spending time with past tellers of the epic.
Ravi Jain & Miriam Fernandes
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keeper. In the other, the Mahabharata , he is the rule-maker. In the one, he is king. In the other, he is kingmaker. In one, he is predictable and dependable. In the other, he is manipulative and mercurial. Yet both are concerned about Dharma. What is Dharma? In the Mahabharata Bhisma tells a story to the Pandavas about King Nriga, who was cursed to be a lizard. Nriga was known for donating cows to the sages of his kingdom. One of the donated cows slipped out of her master’s cowshed and returned to the royal cowshed. Since the royal cowshed had thousands of cows, none of the royal servants noticed her return. Nriga then gave the same cow to another sage. When this sage was returning to his hermitage with Nriga’s gift, the first sage recognised his cow, claimed ownership over her and accused the second sage of theft. When the second sage clarified that he had received it from Nriga himself, the first sage accused the king of theft. ‘That cow was given to me. She is mine. Not the king’s. How then can the king gift her to another? This means the king stole my cow.’ Nriga apologised to the first sage and offered to compensate him with a hundred cows. The sage refused. He wanted his cow back. Nriga then went to the second sage who refused to return his gift. For this act of hurting his subjects, albeit unintentionally, Nriga was cursed to turn into a lizard, a punishment he accepted with grace.
Jaya to Mahabarata: A journey of stories Most Indians believe that one should not read the Mahabharata inside one’s house, for reading it invites strife. This belief is a kind of ‘imitative magic’: the ability of stories, symbols and rituals to influence the surroundings. Mahabharata is the story of a family feud that ultimately leads to division of property and a terrible war, whereas the other great epic, the Ramayana , narrates the tale of a family that struggles, and triumphs, over forces that seek to divide it. Naturally, a traditional Indian family terrified of any disruption of the family fabric prefers Ramayana over the Mahabharata . Any study of the Mahabharata necessitates a reading of the Ramayana . The epics are two sides of the same coin. In one, the Ramayana , God is the rule-
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A king is responsible for the happiness of his subjects. He is responsible for all the hurt he causes them, even without meaning to. We live in times where politicians talk of Dharma but refuse to take responsibility for failures of their own governance. So what is Dharma? It is often translated to mean duty or righteous conduct. But at a fundamental level, Dharma is what distinguishes man from animals; it is what makes man human. All other living creatures subscribe to matysa nyaya, or law of the fishes: might is right. But man is capable of reversing the law. In human society, might need not be right. The weak can have rights too. Even the feeble can thrive. An ideal human society is one based not on power and domination as in nature, but on the very opposite – love and generosity.
They say children inherit the sins of the father. The Mahabharata refers to this concept again and again – how crimes committed in an earlier generation end up affecting a later generation. The epic begins with the story of Janamejaya, angry that his father has been killed by a snake, until he is told that his great-grandparents destroyed an entire forest that was home to thousands of snakes. Even the horrific war at Kurukshetra, like the World Wars, is not merely the fight of cousins, but the outburst of several generations of rage, denial, frustration and envy. That is why these stories look not at one generation but at several. So long is the history and so deep is the wound that everyone assumes they are the victims and no one is prepared to accept the role of the villain. Such is life. There are no heroes or villains, just people who choose to exploit, people who seek retribution, people who cannot forgive and people who shy away from responsibility but yearn for nobility. The original epic was called Jaya , then it was called Vijaya , then Bharata and finally Mahabharata . Jaya was about spiritual victory, Vijaya was about material victory, Bharata was the story of a clan and Mahabharata included also the wisdom of the land called Bharat-varsha. Many modern scholars, writers and playwrights, exhausted and overwhelmed by the maze of stories of the final version of the epic, are convinced that
Image: David Cooper
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the Mahabharata is only about the futility of war. Jai means victory. Vijay also means victory. But there is a difference. Jai is used almost as a greeting in many parts of India, or as an exclamation. But Vijay is used very specifically when one is setting out for a conflict, confrontation, duel or competition. What exactly is the difference? The clue lies in the final chapter of Mahabharata, when Yudhishtira steps into heaven and is horrified to find before him the Kauravas looking radiant and blissful. ‘How did these war-mongers reach the abode of the gods?’, Yudhishtira asks angrily. The gods reply, ‘They were killed on the holy land of Kurukshetra. That has purified them of all misdeeds and earned the right to enter heaven.’ The explanation did not satisfy Yudhishtira. ‘What about my brothers and my wife? Where are they?’ In response, the gods lead Yudhishtira deep under the earth, to a realm that was dark and gloomy and miserable. There, Yudhishtira heard cries of pain and suffering. Tears welled up in his eyes. How could he return to heaven and leave his family here? He made a decision. ‘I will stay here and suffer with them. I refuse to enter heaven without them.’ Looking into Yudhishtira’s eyes, the gods asked, ‘Oh! But we thought you had renounced everything?’ ’What do you mean?’, asked Yudhishtira, suddenly uncomfortable. ‘Well, you certainly have given up your kingdom and your worldly wealth. But you have not given up your anger. Your anger for the Kauravas, despite killing them in battle and ruling the earth for
36 years. You cling to your hatred, Yudhishtira. You still begrudge the Kauravas. You have not forgiven them. You refuse to let go and move on.’ At that moment, Yudhishtira realised he was not the great man he thought he was. Only when there is undiluted compassion for everyone, even our worst enemies, will ego be truly conquered. The epic thus ends not with the victory of the Pandavas over the Kauravas, but with Yudhishtira’s triumph over himself. In Vijay, there are winners and losers. In Jai, there are no losers, no one is defeated, for one triumphs over oneself. If one strips out the excess fat, one realises that the Mahabharata is not a preachy tale appealing for peace. It is a determined exploration of the root of conflict. It is a book yearning for peace, not war. True peace happens when no one is defeated. True peace happens when one conquers oneself. Sharada K Eswar Creative Associate and Khana & Kahani Storyteller
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Verse 3 shubhâshubha-phalair evaṁ mokṣhyase karma-bandhanaiḥ Desire and anger cast a screen of smoke over the world. sannyâsa-yoga-yuktâtmâ vimukto mâm upaiṣhyasi Make yourself alike in pain and pleasure, man-manâ bhava mad-bhakto mad-yâjî mâṁ namaskuru Think of Me, be devoted to Me, worship Me, mâm evaiṣhyasi yuktvaivam âtmânaṁ mat-parâyaṇaḥ And having surrendered yourself to Me, and by following your Dharma, you will find Me. Verse 4 evaṁ jñâtvâ kṛitaṁ karma pûrvair api mumukṣhubhiḥ Action is the cosmic energy that brings every creature into existence. kuru karmaiva tasmâttvaṁ pûrvaiḥ pûrvataraṁ kṛitam Action is inescapable; we always act, even when doing nothing. The question is, how to act rightly?
Bhagavad Gita opera
Verse 5 karmaṇy-evâdhikâras te mâ phaleṣhu kadâchana Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit. mâ karma-phala-hetur bhûr mâ te saṇgo ‘stvakarmaṇi Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful. Verse 6 tad viddhi praṇipâtena pariprashnena sevayâ Act without straining after the reward. upadekṣhyanti te jñânaṁ jñâninas tattva-darshinaḥ Reward is an illusion. yaj jñâtvâ na punar moham evaṁ yâsyasi pâṇḍava Detach action from result, yena bhûtânyasheṣheṇa drakṣhyasyâtmanyatho mayi Be my instrument in the battle.
Bhagavad Gita appears in Part II: Dharma Libretto translation and text adaptation by Sharada K Eswar
Verse 1 yadâ yadâ hi dharmasya glânir bhavati bhârata
Whenever there is a decline of righteousness, O Arjuna, abhyutthânam adharmasya tadâtmânaṁ sṛijâmyaham And there is a rise of unrighteousness, at that time I manifest myself on earth. paritrâṇâya sâdhûnâṁ vinâshâya cha duṣhkṛitâm To protect the righteous, to annihilate the wicked dharma-sansthâpanârthâya sambhavâmi yuge yuge and to reestablish the principles of dharma I appear on this earth, age after age. Verse 2 mayyâsakta-manâḥ pârtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-âshrayaḥ Listen, O Arjuna, how, being devoted to Me, and surrendering to Me asanshayaṁ samagraṁ mâṁ yathâ jñâsyasi tach chhṛiṇu you can know Me completely, and be free from doubt. ye chaiva sâttvikâ bhâvâ râjasâs tâmasâúh cha ye Goodness, passion, and ignorance—are manifested by My energy. matta eveti tân viddhi na tvahaṁ teṣhu te mayi They are in Me, but I am beyond them.
Verse 7 jâtasya hi dhruvo mṛityur dhruvaṁ janma mṛitasya cha Arjuna, that which is born will die, tasmâd aparihârye ‘rthe na tvaṁ shochitum arhasi And that which will die will be reborn. It is pointless to cling and mourn.
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Verse 8 kârpaṇya-doṣhopahata-svabhâvaḥ Your mind is creating a veil between you and your Dharma. pṛichchhâmi tvâṁ dharma-sammûḍha-chetâḥ The fight is not out there, Arjuna, it is inside you. yach-chhreyaḥ syânniœhchitaṁ brûhi tanme Fight the emotions inside you, fight the attachment inside you. shiṣhyaste ‘haṁ shâdhi mâṁ tvâṁ prapannam Control the mind so you can see.
Verse 9 kâlo ‘smi loka-kṣhaya-kṛit pravṛiddho ‘I AM TIME, DESTROYER OF WORLDS. lokân samâhartum iha pravṛittaḥ I have come to consume the world. ṛite ‘pi tvâṁ na bhaviṣhyanti sarve Dharma will prevail. ye ‘vasthitâḥ pratyanîkeṣhu yodhâḥ Rise up, hero. Be my instrument!
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Credits
Written & Created by Miriam Fernandes & Ravi Jain, using poetry from Carole Satyamurti’s Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling A Why Not Theatre Production Originally commissioned and presented by the Shaw Festival in association with Barbican, London
Community Consultant & Industry Partner Encounter Theatre Community Advisory Committee Mala Dharmananda, Sreekanth Gopalakrishnan, Yaso Ponnuthurai, Balli Singh, Kamal Thurairajah Foyer Design India Mehta Assistant Stage Managers Victoria Wang & Jenny Kim Technical Director Daniel Bennett Production Manager Lauren Rebelo Rehearsal Production Manager Maya Royer Head of Video & Video Op Matthew Mellinger Stage Manager Neha Ross
Head of Sound Brandon Wells Music Coordinator Zaheer-Abbas Janhommed Head of Wardrobe Chanti Laliberte Consulting Producer Rebecca Desmarais Assistant Producer & Company Manager Nika Jalali Production Finance Sarah Newkirk Production Marketing Mary Anderson Why Not Theatre Executive Director Karen Tisch Touring Agent David Lieberman Artists' Representatives
Director Ravi Jain
Cast Shawn Ahmed, Neil D'Souza,
Associate Director Miriam Fernandes Set Designer Lorenzo Savoini Costume Designer Gillian Gallow Lighting Designer Kevin Lamotte Associate Lighting Designer Mikael Kangas Projection Designer Hana S. Kim Associate Projection Designer Ann Slote Original Music & Sound Designers John Gzowski & Suba Sankaran Traditional Music Consultant Hasheel Lodhia Choreographer Brandy Leary with contributions from Jay Emmanuel & Ellora Patnaik Kathakali Advisor Kalamandalam ThulasiKumar Original concept developed with Jenny Koons Creative Associate and Khana & Kahani Storyteller Sharada K Eswar Lead Production Manager Crystal Lee Lead Producer Kevin Matthew Wong
Jay Emmanuel, Miriam Fernandes, Ravin J. Ganatra, Karthik Kadam, Darren Kuppan, Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu, Goldy Notay, Ellora Patnaik, Meher Pavri, Sakuntala Ramanee, Ronica Sajnani, Ishan Sandhu, Navtej Sandhu, Munish Sharma, Sukania Venugopal Musicians John Gzowski (Conductor, Co-Composer, Co-Sound Designer, Guitar) Suba Sankaran (Band Leader, Co-Composer, Co-Sound Designer, Voice) Dylan Bell (Bass, Keyboard, Music contributions) Gurtej Singh Hunjan (Percussion & Music contributions) Hasheel Lodhia (Bansuri, Voice, Music contributions) Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed (Tabla & Music contributions)
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Mahabharata includes text with permission from Carole Satyamurti’s Mahabharata: A Modern Retelling , published by W. W. Norton & Company; Devdutt Pattanaik’s Jaya, An Illustrated Retelling Of The Mahabharata , published by Penguin Random House India; and the poetry of Rabindranath Tagore. You can purchase a copy of Mahabharata the play online. This digital edition contains the full text of the play along with materials opening up the behind-the-scenes world of the production, including interviews with the creators, background and context about the source material, production photographs, a Mahabharata family tree and glossary. Ebook available for purchase here. Acknowledgements Mahabharata’s 2025 remount and tour were generously supported by: Major Partners Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity Canada Council for the Arts Government of Canada National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund Clearview Foundation Richard & Nancy Hamm Kingfisher Foundation Lindy Green Family Foundation Metcalf Foundation Ontario Arts Council Andy & Val Pringle TO Live Toronto Arts Council Wuchien Michael Than Foundation Partners Deb Barrett & Jim Leech
Mahabharata was developed with support from the National Arts Centre’s National Creation Fund and remounted with the generous support of Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity through a theatre residency in January 2025 Why Not Theatre Team Founder & Co-Artistic Director Ravi Jain Co-Artistic Director
Miriam Fernandes Executive Director Karen Tisch Director of Production & Technical Crystal Lee Director of Producing & Creative Associate Kevin Matthew Wong Producer, Special Projects Mary Anderson Artistic Associate Michelle Mohammed Finance Director Sarah Newkirk Administrative & Development Manager
Karishma Bristy Grants Manager Erin Brandenburg
Senior Development Advisor & Interim Director of Development Jessica Kamphorst Events & Development Manager Haley Depasqua ThisGen Artistic Producer
Intisar Awisse Social Media Ishan Sandhu Web Design Amanda Davy
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Biographies
About Why Not Theatre
Why Not Theatre is an international theatre company based in Toronto, Canada, operating at the intersection of art, innovation and social change. Rooted in values of community and collaboration, Why Not challenges the status quo, rethinking how stories are told and who gets to tell them. Since its inception, the company has developed and produced more than 50 new plays to critical and public acclaim. These works have toured to over 80 cities and garnered over 40 awards and nominations. Why Not is led by Founder and Co-Artistic Director, Ravi Jain, Executive Director, Karen Tisch, and Co-Artistic Director, Miriam Fernandes.
Ravi Jain Director
Ravi is a highly acclaimed theatremaker known for making politically bold, accessible and thought-provoking theatrical experiences that are changing the face of Canadian theatre. A visionary artistic director, versatile director, astute producer and playful actor, he has spent his career reimagining what theatre can be, impacting the lives of both audiences and artists alike. Ravi has been a trailblazer in pushing the theatre sector forward. On stage, his productions, which consistently play with different forms of storytelling, bring underrepresented stories from unlikely storytellers to the fore, inviting audiences to reimagine stories they once knew and be open to ones that are unfamiliar. Off stage, he works to better the lives of artists and arts workers, spearheading innovative producing models for emerging artists, creating training programs for marginalised voices and proposing bold policy ideas to activate civic spaces with art and rethink access through more affordable payment models. Ravi was born in 1980 in Etobicoke, Ontario. Growing up in an Indian home and attending French school in an English-speaking province opened his eyes to the beauty and depth of hybrid cultures and sparked a passion in him for travel and international collaboration. His passion for language led him to start his career as an actor, training at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, before making his way to École Jacques Lecoq where he found his raison d’être – to effect change through theatre.
Performers
Shawn Ahmed Yudhishthira
Shawn is an actor and filmmaker from Toronto, known for bringing humanity to roles both hilarious and harrowing. On-screen, you might recognize him inciting a mutiny aboard the UNN Agatha King ( The Expanse ), melting hearts as a Hallmark hunk ( Holidazed ) or smoking reefer and writing an alien into his sitcom (DC’s Legends ). On stage, Shawn’s highlights include two seasons at the Shaw Festival and acclaimed performances with Shakespeare & Co. Sharing Mahabharata in Perth is an honour – and if someone could point him toward the quokkas, he’d be even happier.
Neil D’Souza Krishna
Neil is an actor and writer. His work includes Out of Season (Hampstead Theatre), How To Hold Your Breath (Royal Court), Much Ado (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Man Of Mode (National), Austin (ABC), Slow Horses (Apple TV), Diamonds (Netflix), Renegade Nell (Disney), Eastenders (BBC), In The Long Run (Sky), The Goddess and Dear Harry Kane (BBC Radio 4). His writing credits include The Goddess (BBC), and three plays for London UK theatres, including Out of Season (2024). Neil teaches acting and writing and is a member of the RADA audition panel.
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Jay Emmanuel Shiva/Amba/Eklavya/Drupada
Ravin J. Ganatra Dhritarashtra
Born in India and based in Australia, Jay is an award-winning actor, director and the founding Artistic Director of Encounter. He has directed innovative works emphasizing authentic storytelling, including Beneath the Music and Children of the Sea (Perth Festival 2021). As a performer he starred in acclaimed productions like Counting and Cracking (Belvoir St./Co-Curious/Adelaide Festival) and Heroes by Radhouane El-Meddeb. A 2023 WA Multicultural Arts Award recipient and Churchill fellow, Jay is celebrated for his global leadership, community engagement, collaboration and best practices in the arts.
Ravin is based in the UK and his career as an actor has spanned over three decades, including extensive stage, film and television appearances. His work as a producer has recently seen his feature documentary, A Girl Can Touch the Sky , sweep 12 international awards and is streaming globally. Ravin’s other passions are travel and charity and he has started a not for profit to create fundraising adventures. He is delighted to work on Mahabharata , having originally discussed the collaboration with Ravi Jain nearly a decade ago.
Darren Kuppan Duryodhana
Miriam Fernandes Associate Director & Storyteller
Darren has been part of Mahabharata since its humble beginnings many years ago, and he’s so proud of the show it’s become and the special people it’s brought into his life. Using his skills as a dancer and martial artist, bringing the character of Duryodhana to life, has been one of his proudest achievements. His theatre, TV and radio credits are extensive, and he’s worked in some of the most prestigious theatres in the UK, most recently playing Shere Khan in The Jungle Book .
Miriam is the Co-Artistic Director of the Toronto-based international company Why Not Theatre, and has worked as an actor, director and theatre-maker around the world. She is the co-creator/associate director for Mahabharata and the co-creator/associate director of What You Won’t Do for Lov e with Drs. David Suzuki and Tara Cullis. She is currently in development for several new works, including a new adaptation of Enemy of the People. Her directing credits include The Courage to Right a Woman’s Wrongs (Stratford Festival Meighan Forum), Metamorphoses (CDTPS), Hayavadana (Soulpepper Theatre), Nesen (MiniMidiMaxi Festival, Norway) and The First Time I Saw the Sea (YVA Company, Norway). She is a graduate of Ecole Jacques Lecoq (Paris) and has trained with Anne Bogart and the SITI Company. Her plays have been turned into films, published and produced across Canada, the UK, Australia and Norway.
Anaka Maharaj-Sandhu Arjuna
Born on Treaty One Territory, Anaka is a South-Asian, gender non-conforming artist with a passion for storytelling that transcends boundaries. Their work is inspired by a fascination with everyday life and the shared emotional experience of performance. Anaka’s background in political science informs their practice, often focusing on community impact. They aim to challenge traditional narratives by offering fresh interpretations of the ‘classics’. Anaka is honoured to be at Perth Festival, and dedicates this performance to their ancestors and loved ones: for Nanie, Nana, Biji, Grandpa and Darius.
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Goldy Notay Draupadi/Gandhari
Sakuntala Ramanee Shakuni/Sanjaya
Goldy played Amma in the Olivier award-winning production Life of Pi , directed by Max Webster. Her previous work includes Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre), All of Us (National Theatre London), Abigail’s Party (by Mike Leigh), The Game of Love and Chance (Tara Theatre) and Pink Sari Revolution (English Touring Theatre). TV and film credits include Little English , It’s A Wonderful Afterlife , Sex and the City 2 and My Own Country . Goldy received a Best Actress Award for the film, Chapter Two , and a Best Actress Nomination for The Dishonoured .
Sakuntala trained in Drama at Kent University. Her theatre credits include The Red Shoes (Royal Shakespeare Company), Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre), Life Of Pi (West End), Romeo and Juliet (RSC at Stratford, the Barbican, UK tour), The Forest (Hampstead Theatre), Father and the Assassin (National Theatre Olivier), East Is East (Jamie Lloyd, UK tour), Coventry Mystery Plays (Belgrade, Coventry), Dead Eye (Soho Theatre and Birmingham Rep), Camille (Lyric Hammersmith, UK tour) and Maa (The Royal Court). Television credits include Granite Harbour, Emmerdale, Line of Duty, Hustle and Coronation Street .
Ellora Patnaik Kunti/Drona
Navtej Sandhu Karna/Satyavati
Ellora was born in Toronto and grew up an Odissi Indian classical dancer. She is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (NYC). Her recent film and TV projects include Sort Of, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Calorie, Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, One Small Visit, Kim’s Convenience, Ginny & Georgia and Schitt’s Creek . Ellora has performed in an array of theatre productions, including Crones, A Christmas Carol, Standing On My Knees, Nagamandala, Umrao Jaan Ada, The Penelopiad, Romeo and Juliet, Acha Bacha, Much Ado About Nothing and Free Outgoing .
Navtej is a Toronto-based actor, born in Long Island, New York. Her most recent acting credits include Jin in The Caged Bird Sings , directed by Rafeh Mahmud, and Karna/Satyavati in Mahabharata , directed by Ravi Jain. Navtej is also a skilled vocalist with credits including Devi Triptych by Red Beti Theatre and Jungle Book by Kidoons Productions. Navtej currently holds an Intermediate Actor Combatant Certificate with experience performing her own stunts.
Munish Sharma Bhima
Meher Pavri Voice of Krishna
Munish is an actor, writer and dancer. He began his career in Vancouver creating sketch shows and cabaret and has been working in theatre for over a decade. Munish is beyond grateful to be part of this fantastic show. It’s a dream come true. Love to his family and friends for their support.
Parsi-Canadian soprano Meher hails from London, Ontario. She is a multidisciplinary artist who enjoys performing in opera, musical theatre, film/television and is most passionate about new Canadian works. Her career highlights include Maria in West Side Story (Windsor Symphony Orchestra, Niagara Symphony Orchestra); soloist in Soulpepper Theatre shows, most recently 88 Keys ; roles in the world premiere of The Overcoat (Canadian Stage, Tapestry Opera, Vancouver Opera), Bend It Like Beckham: The Musical (Starvox) and Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre).
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Sukania Venugopal Bhishma
Ronica Sajnani Understudy
Sukania is an actor from Malaysia. Her work includes Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre), which was first performed in Niagara On The Lake in Canada in 2023 and later that fall at the Barbican in London, UK. Her work also includes Australian production, Counting and Cracking (Belvoir Theatre), performing in Sydney (2019, 2024), Adelaide (2019), Edinburgh Festival (2023), Birmingham, UK (2023), Melbourne (2024) and New York (2024).
Ronica is an actor whose select theatre credits include A Brimful of Asha (Theatre Antigonish), My Granny the Goldfish (Factory Theatre) and Rice Boy (Canadian Stage). Film and television credits include Water (directed by Deepa Mehta), Run the Burbs, Sort Of, TallBoyz (CBC), Good Sam (CBS), Sneakerella (Disney), Wedding Season, Black Mirror (Netflix), Kids in the Hall (2022) (Amazon) and Workin’ Moms (CBC/Netflix). Awards include Theatre Nova Scotia Robert Merritt nominee, Best Lead and Production ( A Brimful of Asha ), Academy Award Nominee ( Water ) and nine Genie Award nominations. Ishan Sandhu Understudy and Khana & Kahani Performer Chandigarh, a small town in North India designed by a French architect, is where Ishan calls home and is where he first dreamt of becoming an actor. He has been acting for as long as he can remember, but mostly in service to escape his mother’s chappal. After dodging his way through that, he pursued a BFA in Acting from the University of British Columbia. Most recently, you can see him in Normal Scotia on Fibe TV, a television show about immigrants working in a curling club.
Karthik Kadam Understudy
Originally from Bangalore, India, Karthik is a graduate of UBC’s Acting Program. His recent work on stage includes Measure for Measure, The Comedy of Errors, Henry V and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bard on the Beach); Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre) and The Legend of Georgia McBride (Arts Club) among others.
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Musicians
Dylan Bell Bass, Keyboard, Music contributions
In one word – multifaceted. Juno-nominated Dylan is a vocalist, instrumentalist (piano, bass, guitar, Stick, percussion), composer/arranger, music director, producer/engineer, educator and author. His musical curiosity keeps him effortlessly blurring musical boundaries with Canada’s premier vocal ensembles Hampton Avenue, The Watch, FreePlay and Retrocity. Behind the mixing board, Dylan has produced/ engineered several award-winning albums for vocal legends such as The Swingles (UK) and The Nylons (Canada). He has written two books on a cappella arranging, and his choral compositions and arrangements are performed worldwide.
John Gzowski Conductor, Co-Composer, Co-Sound Designer, Guitar
John is a composer, sound designer, musician and instrument maker who has created sound design and performed live foley and music in shows across Canada. His theatre work has garnered six Dora Awards, with nominations from Ex Machina, Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Luminato Toronto, National Arts Centre, the Mirvishes, MTC, the Arts Club, Canadian Stage, Soulpepper, Dancemakers, Tarragon, Factory Theatre and YPT. John has played on numerous records, with artists such as Patricia O’Callaghan, Tasa and Autorickshaw, and received a Juno nomination with Maza Meze. Suba Sankaran Band Leader, Co-Composer, Co-Sound Designer, Voice Suba is a Dora Award-winning, three-time Juno-nominated musician who combines musical worlds, seamlessly crosses genres, performing worldwide with Indo-fusion ensemble Autorickshaw, a cappella live-looping FreePlay and ‘80s revue Retrocity. She has performed for Peter Gabriel, Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu, collaborated with Deepa Mehta and has performed with the Swingles, Bobby McFerrin, Lorraine Segato and Jane Siberry. She is a performer, educator, composer, choral director and sound designer. Suba was recently awarded the prestigious 2023 Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize and the 2023 Kathleen McMorrow Music Award.
Gurtej Singh Hunjan Percussion & Music contributions
Gurtej is a Juno Award-nominated multi- instrumentalist composer and DJ. His training in North Indian rhythm informs his approach to writing and performance. His most recent composing contributions can be heard in season one of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s hit series, Sort Of . Gurtej is passionate about collaboration and continues to explore traditional and contemporary modalities of musical expression. He thanks his teachers and influences who continually inspire.
Hasheel Lodhia Bansuri, Voice, Music contributions
Hasheel is a queer Hindustani artist, trained in vocals as well as the bansuri. He has been learning music since the age of five under his father and started playing the bansuri under the guidance of Shri Jeetu Sharma. Hasheel is currently a senior student of the legendary Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Pandit Ajay Pohankar. His music mixes Amapiano, electronica, R&B and Bollywood with a steady undertone of traditional Indian classical. Performances have included those with Kailash Kher, Hariharan, Karsh Kale and for Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman.
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Zaheer-Abbas Janmohamed Tabla, Music contributions & Music Coordinator
Kevin Lamotte Lighting Designer
Kevin has created lighting designs for many international performing arts companies. Recent productions include Mahabharata (Shaw Festival, Barbican), The Secret Garden, Gem of the Ocean, Desire Under the Elms (Shaw Festival), A Christmas Carol (Theatre Calgary), Traviata (Opéra de Montréal), Fidelio (Pacific Opera Victoria) and L’ Histoire du Soldat (Art of Time). Kevin’s awards for outstanding lighting design include the Pauline McGibbon Award and the Dora Award. He is the Director of Lighting Design at the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake.
Zaheer-Abbas is a Toronto-based tabla player who brings the tradition of tabla to new contexts through his artistic practice and collaborations. He has played extensively in Toronto with various local artists at many of the city’s well-known venues. He has performed across Canada in a variety of classical, semi-classical and contemporary settings, including appearances such as Sonic Landscapes (Surbahar) with Ustad Irshad Khan, Sufi folk music of Mukhtiyar Ali and Rifflandia Festival.
Creative Team
Mikael Kangas Associate Lighting Designer
Lorenzo Savoini Set Designer
Mikael designs lights for theatre, opera, dance, events and film. His recent work includes Wozzeck, Madama Butterfly, Nabucco, Fantasma (Canadian Opera Company), Anything Goes, My Fair Lady, The Amen Corner, Damn Yankees, Trouble in Mind, Glass Menagerie, O’Flaherty VC (Shaw Festival), Chris Mrs. (Boldy Productions), Just for One Day, In Dreams and & Juliet (Mirvish). Mikael is the Lighting and Projection Design Coordinator for the Canadian Opera Company and is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada and United Scenic Artists.
Lorenzo is an award-winning set, costume and lighting designer for theatre, ballet and opera. His work has been seen throughout Canada, United States, England and Cuba. Most recently, he designed the set and lighting for Winter Solstice (Necessary Angel/Canadian Stage), set for The Sound of Music (The Grand Theatre), set and lighting for London Assurance , set and costumes for Hedda Gabler (Stratford Festival) and set for My Fair Lady (Shaw Festival). Lorenzo has received five Dora Awards and is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.
Gillian Gallow Costume Designer
Hana S. Kim Projection Designer
Gillian is a set and costume designer based in Canada who has collaborated with theatre companies across the country, most notably with the Canadian Opera Company, Shaw Festival, Stratford Festival, Espace Go, Rideau Vert, Soulpepper, Canadian Stage, RMTC and The National Arts Centre, to name a few. Gillian is a graduate of York University’s Theatre Design Program and has received the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award for Costume Design, a Meta Award, four Dora Mavor Moore awards and was the 2021 Siminovitch Prize Laureate.
Hana is an immersive media designer and a visual artist for live performances. Recent credits include The Outsiders at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, The Old Man & The Pool at the Lincoln Center Theater, Summer 1976 at the MTC, Orfeo at the Santa Fe Opera and The Harder They Come at Public Theater. She is a recipient of Tony Awards, the Princess Grace Awards in Theater Design, Richard Sherwood Award from CTG and Kinetic Lighting Award for distinguished achievement in theatrical design from LA Drama Critics Circle.
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Ann Slote Associate Projection Designer
Sharada K Eswar Creative Associate and Khana & Kahani Storyteller Sharada is an Indo-Canadian writer, singer and storyteller and currently the Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre. Her work has been featured in Canada and internationally. Selected credits include Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre), blue skies, red earth & tall pines (Jumblies Theatre), Chitra (Shaw Festival), Hayavadana (Why Not Theatre/Soulpepper Theatre), The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Stratford Festival), Abhimanyu (Theatre Direct/National Arts Centre). Upcoming work includes The Butcher’s Song and La-la Land (Jumblies Theatre).
Ann attended the University of California Los Angeles and is a video and lighting designer based in Berlin and San Francisco. Her video design work includes Joywave’s Hellvetica and Cleanse Tours, Quinn XCII’s Festival Tour and MisterWives’ Resilient Little Tour. As video assistant and animator her work includes Stranger Love at LA Philharmonic, Goddess at Berkeley Rep, Dancin’ at The Old Globe and The Sound Inside on Broadway. Lighting design work includes Best Funeral Ever (my russian funeral) for Ballhaus Ost and What You Will for Project Nongenue.
Brandy Leary Choreographer
Crystal Lee Lead Production Manager
Brandy is a choreographer and dancer. Her body of work has been commissioned and produced in Canada, Europe, India, the Arctic, South Africa and the USA, occupying theatres, urban environments, festivals, museums, art galleries and landscapes. Her choreographies have been described as “phenomenological interventions” (Canadian Theatre) , “soulful and sensuous” (The New York Times) and “magisterial movement” (The Guardian, UK) . Brandy is a senior Kalarippayattu practitioner studying for two decades under traditional martial artist VM Vikas Gurukal in Kozhikode (IN), and Founder/ Artistic Director of Anandam Dance Theatre and Co-Founder/Co-Director of Collective Space (Toronto).
Crystal is originally from a small east coast Canadian community in the Chaleur Region. Her first exposure to theatre was in a local high school auditorium – a touring production of The Velveteen Rabbit . After the experience, she was enthralled in how theatre was able to capture effective magic with simple sequences and felt most comfortable facilitating that magic as a production manager. Best advice that has guided her practice? Don’t prep for perfection, but instead for spontaneity! Crystal trained at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Kevin Matthew Wong Lead Producer
Kevin is a Hakka-Canadian theatre creator, dramaturg, video artist and producer. Kevin is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Broadleaf Creative, a company that produces social justice and climate justice-informed artworks. Kevin is also the Director of Producing and Creative Associate at Why Not Theatre leading a diverse portfolio of large-scale and internationally touring projects. Kevin is the inaugural winner of both the Jini Stolk Creative Fellowship and the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Innovative Experience. Kevin’s upcoming Benevolence series is a triptych spanning film, theatre and installation, exploring guesthood and legacy.
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Production Team
Jenny Kim Assistant Stage Manager
Jenny is a stage manager based in Vancouver, BC, whose credits include Mahabharata, What You Won’t Do For Love (Why Not Theatre), Miracle on 34th Street, Red Velvet, Teenage Dick and No Child (Arts Club Theatre), Comedy of Errors, Measure for Measure, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet and Coriolanus (Bard On The Beach), The Mountaintop (Pacific Theatre), The Café (Aphotic Theatre/Itsazoo Production), Bad Parent (vAct/PTE/Soulpepper Theatre), China Doll (Gateway Theatre) and Pachinko (Apple TV). Jenny is excited and honoured to be part of this Mahabharata journey.
Neha Ross Stage Manager
Neha is a stage manager based in Tkaronto, Canada. She is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to meaningful theatre and to collaborate with talented artists and teams around the world. Neha’s selected credits include Mahabharata, Prince Hamlet, ICELAND, We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About… and Between the Years 1884–1915 (Why Not Theatre), Playing Shylock (Canadian Stage), Kim’s Convenience, Bad Parent, Animal Farm and Kamloopa (Soulpepper Theatre), Perceptual Archaeology (Crow’s Theatre), One Thing Leads to Another (Young Peoples Theatre), Other Side of the Game (Obsidian Theatre) and Lady in the Red Dress (fuGEN).
Daniel Bennett Technical Director
Daniel is the Director of Production and Facilities for Canadian Stage. He has also worked as a Technical Director at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. Daniel has toured internationally with Prince Hamlet and Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre) and nationally with ROOM (Grand Theatre/Mirvish/Covent Garden Productions) and Fall on Your Knees (NAC/Canadian Stage/Grand Theatre/Neptune Theatre/Vita Brevis Productions). When he’s not in a theatre, Daniel can be found on a spin bike.
Victoria Wang Assistant Stage Manager
Victoria is a Toronto-based stage manager, producer, arts manager and yoga instructor who works in theatre, dance, film and interdisciplinary forms of live performance. She has worked with Native Earth, Why Not Theatre, Soulpepper Theatre, Cahoots, Aluna Theatre, Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, the National Arts Centre, Segal Centre, SummerWorks, Buddies in Bad Times, Nuit Blanche and the Toronto International Film Festival. Victoria is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the National Theatre School of Canada. She is thrilled to be back with the Mahabharata team!
Lauren Rebelo Production Manager
Lauren is a theatremaker from Hamilton, Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Media Studies and a Diploma in Theatre Production. Lauren started her career at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario, where she worked in both the production and creative management departments. She has toured shows across Canada as a production manager, but this is her first international tour. Lauren currently resides in Niagara, working with established and emerging theatre designers at the Shaw Festival, the second largest repertory theatre in North America.
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Maya Royer Rehearsal Production Manager
Chanti Laliberte Head of Wardrobe
Born and raised in Toronto, Maya has always been passionate about her city and its culture. She is grateful to be a member of the Toronto performing arts community, primarily as a production manager. Excited to see what the future holds, she appreciates every opportunity that gives her the chance to grow as both an artist and as a person. Maya holds a BFA from Toronto Metropolitan University, in Performance Production and Design.
Chanti is a Toronto-based craftsperson and head of wardrobe with a BFA Honours from York University. A two-time nominee for the Pauline McGibbon Award and co-owner of Awl Or Nothing Creative Inc, Chanti is also an administrator and advocate for their creative maker collective. Chanti has spent numerous seasons working on countless shows with the Blyth Festival, the Stratford Festival and companies such as Canadian Stage, Obsidian Theatre Company, Buddies in Bad Times and Factory Theatre. Their work has been seen on stages throughout Ontario for over 15 years.
Matthew Mellinger Video Engineer
Rebecca Desmarais Consulting Producer
Matthew is very excited to be video engineer on Mahabharata , especially after supporting the production at Shaw Festival and Barbican. He has over 100 theatrical production credits spanning the globe. His select Broadway credits include Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Anastasia, A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder, The Other Place, Baby It’s You! and Bring It On: The Musical . Matthew received a BFA from the California Institute of the Arts.
Rebecca is an international tour producer for theatre and on-set teacher for film and television. She has produced and managed over 65 tours across five continents with award-winning shows, such as Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet and 2b theatre company’s Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story . She has also worked with companies such as Quote Unquote Collective, Fascinator Management and TRIA Theatre. As an on-set teacher, Rebecca has worked on over 20 productions, such as HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry , Netflix’s Fubar and Universal Studios’ The Black Phone 2 .
Brandon Wells Head of Sound
Brandon has spent over a decade working with a multitude of artists and organisations in Toronto and beyond. Often employed as recording engineer, live sound engineer and livestream mixing engineer, Brandon has worked for Live from Koerner Hall, Soundstreams, Esprit Orchestra, Against the Grain Theatre, Pocket Concerts, Tapestry Opera, Canadian Stage, Why Not Theatre and numerous others. Brandon is a recording engineer at The Royal Conservatory of Music and holds degrees from McGill University and Humber College.
Nika Jalali Assistant Producer & Company Manager
Nika is an Iranian-Canadian producer and multi-disciplinary artist dedicated to amplifying racialised voices on international stages. She has collaborated on interdisciplinary projects in Canada, Italy, Scotland, the Czech Republic and Germany. She was selected as the 2024 Metcalf Foundation Artistic Producing intern, under the mentorship of Nightwood Theatre, where she deepened her commitment to creating transformative, thought-provoking theatre that inspires change. Nika is grateful to work with talented collaborators on this momentous tour of Mahabharata , curating spaces and pushing boundaries for meaningful storytelling.
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