UNTIL THE LIONS: Re-imagining the Mahabharata
Theatre workshop with Corinne Jaber,
leading contemporary practitioner
Applications are sought for a week-long workshop with award-winning actor, director and playwright
Corinne Jaber, to take place across 5th week. Corinne is developing a piece based on Karthika Nair's 2019
Until the Lions: Echoes from the Mahabharata, a response to the great Sanskrit epic that was famously
transformed into an 9-hour play by Jean-Claude Carrière and Peter Brook in the 1980/90s. Corinne
performed in Brook’s touring production and the film of the play 30 years ago, and is now working with
young people to develop her own project, using Nair’s collection of poems which adopt the perspective of
the peripheral female voices that are unheard or marginalised in the original.
This is a unique and exciting opportunity to work closely with a renowned practitioner, both to
develop your own skills, and to contribute to the evolution of a piece of professional theatre in its
earliest stages.
Corinne says:
I want to see how young people relate to this text, to discover what they are drawn to in the
retelling of this epic, to share ideas and to take on their feedback.
At the beginning of the week, students will be asked to choose a story/character that appeals to
them from a selection provided to them from Lions. We will listen to their stories and look at how
the themes resonate with us today.
Our key question will be: how can a story be told in the simplest, most direct, most truthful way
possible? Using our collective energy and imagination, we will look at developing dramaturgy
through improvisation as well as through writing exercises, using movement, voice, sound and any
other skills the students come with.
Successful applicants will work in two groups, EITHER 9.30-12.30 OR 2-5, from Mon-Fri of week 5. A
work-in-progress performance will take place on Friday from 5.30-7. All events will be at St Catz.
Students must be able to commit to the full week of work, and should indicate which session they
prefer in their application.
This opportunity is open to students from all colleges and all disciplines, at both undergraduate and
postgraduate level. We want our groups to be as diverse as possible in all senses: no prior theatrical
experience is necessary, just curiosity and enthusiasm.
To apply, please email jessica.goodman@stcatz.ox.ac.uk with a paragraph or two outlining a) your
interest in the project and b) any relevant experience or interests (these do not have to be
theatrical). Deadline: October 27 (Monday, 3rd week).
