For years, Peter Brook's Mahabharata has felt like a theatrical Everest; his epic, uncompromising staging was impossible to challenge. Now, a new team under the direction of Stuart Wood has orchestrated a glossily multicultural version that takes a different route into the Indian classic.
Halfway between music theatre and dance, mixing the languages of Sanskrit and English, Kathak dance and West End musical, this production aims to make a Mahabharata for the 21st century.
At first, it seems to succeed. Angela Davies's set is beautiful - a gleaming gun-metal grey that reflects the vivid tints of Indian light and fabric. Composer Nitin Sawhney and choreographer Gauri Sharma Tripathi create a compelling version of modern Kathak dance-theatre, bending traditional rhythms and steps into ravishing contemporary forms to dramatise whirling battle scenes and glittering palace interiors. Garry Pillai, as the benign, blue-faced Krishna, is an engaging narrator who we trust to lead us through the three-hour saga of cosmic rivalries and wars.
The mission of this Mahabharata is to focus on the philosophical dilemmas of its characters, questioning the possibility of freedom in a world ordered by gods. And this is where the problems start. First, the production is forced to skimp on the external action - whole incidents flash past, impossible to understand. Second, the characters keep getting jerked into sub-Lloyd Webber confessional mode, belting out their emotions in jarringly amplified and derivative songs. Third, the text increasingly takes precedence over the music and choreography, but Stephen Clark's language isn't strong enough to carry this off.
You can sense the production's nervousness as gratuitous visual tics creep in, like the psychedelic video accompanying Krishna's sermon on destiny - enlightenment on acid. With some stringent editing and rewriting, this show still has potential. As yet, it doesn't leave a footprint on the Brook legend.
· At Clwyd Theatr Cymru, Mold, on May 15 (0845 330 3565). Then touring
