As protestors around the globe carry out localised off-shoots of the anti-capitalist ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement, the Metropolitan Opera presents SATYAGRAHA – a production chronicling the life of the man who championed the philosophy of non-violent resistance, Mahatma Gandhi.
SATYAGRAHA, featuring songs sung in ancient Sanskrit, with the libretto drawn from the holy Bhagavad Gita scripture, screens in 30 cinemas around New Zealand for a limited season from 15 December.
Philip Glass’s opera, one of the most modern works in the Met repertory, tells the moving story of Gandhi’s early life in South Africa, when he formed his revolutionary philosophy of pacifism to fight racism.
Performers Richard Croft, Rachelle Durkin, and Alfred Walker and conductor Dante Anzolini, reprise their performances from the opera’s 2008 Met premiere, which were met with extraordinary critical acclaim. The transmission will be hosted by bass-baritone Eric Owens.
Directed by Phelim McDermott, with set design from Julian Crouch, SATYAGRAHA exploits a variety of multimedia, with over- sized handcrafted puppets and stilt walkers filling the stage against the background of Glass’s contemplative score.
Crouch, who will also assistant direct, says he worked to reconcile the contrasting ideas of a grandiloquent opera and the essential simplicity of Gandhi’s ideas.
“I used humble materials like corrugated iron, newspaper, baskets and tape to create images that would reflect Gandhian ideals.”
Pages from Indian Opinion, the newspaper started by Gandhi in Africa, which became a key tool for his movement, will be projected on a background screen. McDermott says that the use of the newspaper was especially significant given how today’s resistance movements are fuelled by social and traditional media.
“It’s a perfect fit. Gandhi was one of the first people to use the media in that way to connect people.”
The unique opera’s title loosely translates to ‘insistence on openness, honesty, fairness and truth’
McDermott acknowledges the timeliness of the Met restaging SATYAGRAHA,
“Look at Wall Street protests – they started with a few people downtown and grew into a global phenomenon, similarly to Gandhi’s movement which also began as a local protest.”
This is Glass’ second opera in a trilogy about men who changed the world – the others being Einstein on the Beach (about Albert Einstein) and Akhnaten (about the Egyptian pharaoh Akhnaten). The composer is widely regarded as one of the most influential and prolific American composers of the century.
Satyagraha by Philip Glass screens in cinemas around New Zealand from 15 December.
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