And, What A Yudh!

Yesterday I watched for the first time in my life, a play in Manipuri! The play was called Andha Yudh and it was performed by Chorus Repertory Theatre, Imphal.
Since this is the first time I was seeing a performance by Chorus Repertory Theater and their style of performance, you could say that I was blown away.
The play is about the last day of Mahabharata and the madness of Ashwattama. As the epic goes, Ashwattama completely loses it and avenges the death of his father by slaughtering all the sons and daughters of the Pandavas. The narrative describes the pain that Dhritarashtra and Gandhari go through on hearing the death of Duryodhana, their one hope of victory. The death and destruction that continues after the great war where brothers fought brothers and families were torn apart are presented in a poetic manner.
The opening of the play with the cross lighting and the eerie looking chorus walking through really gripped my attention. I was not prepared for this. From then on the build up was great. There was very little quiet on the stage. Action, dance, music. What was amazing was that I could understand the emotion even though I had no clue what they were saying!
May be because of that, I was observing body language etc like a hawk. There was some rough edges in some of the choreography. There was a feeling that the lady who played Gandhari, while very good, was getting repetitive in her movements. The role of Vidura was unclear. The use of modern props (like sun glasses etc, the use of stretcher, nurses to symbolize the futility of war) were neat touches. Overall, one walked away with the feeling that the play wanted to convey on the futility of war. Be it an eon ago or be it in the neighborhood in the country next door. Peace! Peace! Peace!