美国国家公共电台 NPR A Guilt-Ridden Winner Takes Center Stage In Peter Brook's 'Battlefield'

A Guilt¹-Ridden Winner Takes Center Stage In Peter Brook²'s 'Battlefield'

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There are few living theater directors who can convince audiences to stay up all night in an abandoned quarry⁴ to watch the staging of a Sanskrit poem. But 30 years ago, director Peter Brook did just that. He put on what came to be known as one of the great theater events of the 20th century, "The Mahabharata." There were two dozen actors. The stage was covered in dirt. Jets of flame erupted from it or simulated rain turned it to mud. It was nine hours long, and it was epic⁵. Now Peter Brook is back with another installment⁶ of the same poem, but this time he's thinking small. Jeff Lunden reports.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE⁷: Peter Brook started working to bring "The Mahabharata" to the stage towards the end of the Vietnam War. Now, there's a civil war in Syria with no end in sight, so the 91-year-old director decided⁸ it was time to re-explore a part of the poem. It starts after a catastrophic war, and the play is called "Battlefield."

PETER BROOK: We wanted to concentrate on one thing only, which is not all the causes that lead to a war, not all the horrors of a great massacre⁹, but what is the position of the great leader who realizes that he has done what he set out to do? He has won.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "BATTLEFIELD")

JARED MCNEILL: (As Yudishtira) This victory is a defeat. Battlefield is covered by endless heaps of corpses¹⁰. Golden breastplates and jewels of the heroes glitter in the sun.

LUNDEN: The winner is Yudishtira, a prince who's about to become king. After the battle, he's overwhelmed by guilt. He wants to retreat into the forest to live a life of penance¹¹. But Peter Brook says...

BROOK: You have to live to the responsibility of the person who has won, which is even greater than the responsibility of a person who has lost.

LUNDEN: So the prince seeks advice from a deity¹².

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "BATTLEFIELD")

MCNEILL: (As Yudishtira) The other war, where will it take place, on a battlefield or in my heart?

LUNDEN: And Krishna answers.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "BATTLEFIELD")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Krishna) I don't see a real difference. The earth will need you. She will enjoy your victory. She will need you to wake up again, to recover her beauty, her calm, her harmony.

LUNDEN: "Battlefield" looks at death and destiny, the cyclical nature of war and peace, epic ideas, but it does it with just four actors, some different colored shawls, a few sticks and a drummer.

BROOK: We're doing it with a tiny group who are, collectively, one storyteller. And that makes it possible to do what a storyteller can do, which is both open up an infinitely¹³ large cosmos¹⁴, which a storyteller can do with one word, with one look, with one finger, and something about the human problems, which the storyteller can find within him or herself.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING)

LUNDEN: The show's drummer, Toshi Tsuchitori tells the story as much as the actors. He sits at the side of the stage, punctuating¹⁵ the observations about war with drumbeats that can be ferocious¹⁶ or underscoring a parable¹⁷ about destiny with delicacy¹⁸. He says every performance of "Battlefield" is different. He improvises¹⁹ based on where the show plays - it's toured all over the world - and the feeling in the room.

TOSHI TSUCHITORI: Every day, I work with actors, one hour's preparation. That is my compose.

(SOUNDBITE OF DRUMMING)

LUNDEN: The play is only about an hour, but Peter Brook says it's stuffed with many parables²⁰ from "The Mahabharata."

BROOK: The most extraordinary, powerful, passionate²¹ and great ideas about truth, about life, about death, to make those instantly available to us through a story, which is touching²², comic, human...

LUNDEN: And those are just the kind of stories Peter Brook has been telling audiences for over 70 years. For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 guilt   

n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责

参考例句：

• She tried to cover up her guilt by lying.她企图用谎言掩饰自己的罪行。
• Don't lay a guilt trip on your child about schoolwork.别因为功课责备孩子而使他觉得很内疚。

2 brook   

n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让

参考例句：

• In our room we could hear the murmur of a distant brook.在我们房间能听到远处小溪汩汩的流水声。
• The brook trickled through the valley.小溪涓涓流过峡谷。

3 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

4 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

5 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

6 installment   

n.(instalment)分期付款；(连载的)一期

参考例句：

• I shall soon pay the last installment of my debt.不久我将偿付我的最后一期债款。
• He likes to buy things on the installment plan.他喜欢用分期付款法购买货物。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

9 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

10 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

11 penance   

n.（赎罪的）惩罪

参考例句：

• They had confessed their sins and done their penance.他们已经告罪并做了补赎。
• She knelt at her mother's feet in penance.她忏悔地跪在母亲脚下。

12 deity   

n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物)

参考例句：

• Many animals were seen as the manifestation of a deity.许多动物被看作神的化身。
• The deity was hidden in the deepest recesses of the temple.神藏在庙宇壁龛的最深处。

13 infinitely   

adv.无限地，无穷地

参考例句：

• There is an infinitely bright future ahead of us.我们有无限光明的前途。
• The universe is infinitely large.宇宙是无限大的。

14 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

15 punctuating   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的现在分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Finally, it all came to a halt, with only Leehom's laboured breathing punctuating the silence. 最后，一切静止，只剩力宏吃力的呼吸，打破寂静。 来自互联网
• Li, punctuating the air with her hands, her fingernails decorated with pink rose decals. 一边说着，一边用手在空中一挥，指甲上还画了粉红玫瑰图案。 来自互联网

16 ferocious   

adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的

参考例句：

• The ferocious winds seemed about to tear the ship to pieces.狂风仿佛要把船撕成碎片似的。
• The ferocious panther is chasing a rabbit.那只凶猛的豹子正追赶一只兔子。

17 parable   

n.寓言，比喻

参考例句：

• This is an ancient parable.这是一个古老的寓言。
• The minister preached a sermon on the parable of the lost sheep.牧师讲道时用了亡羊的比喻。

18 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。

19 improvises   

临时制作，临时凑成( improvise的名词复数 )； 即兴创作（音乐、台词、演讲词等）

参考例句：

• If an actor forgets his words, he sometimes improvises. 如果一个演员忘了台词，他有时临时编造。
• Chloe improvises, and calls Gabriel pretending she has had car troubles. 克洛即兴创作，并且叫假装她已经有小汽车麻烦的加布里埃尔。

20 parables   

n.（圣经中的）寓言故事( parable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Jesus taught in parables. 耶酥以比喻讲道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In the New Testament are the parables and miracles. 《新约》则由寓言利奇闻趣事构成。 来自辞典例句

21 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

22 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。