Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1981 - 14

The opera is divided into three acts. The first and second
act have three scenes each, and the third act consists of one
long scene. The division into acts is only a traditional convenience in this case. The opera is actually built on a scene
structure, and it would be more precise to say that it consists
of seven scenes. Each scene represents a particular moment
in Gandhi's life and has a specific theme. The scenes follow
chronologically, not based on the unity of the plot, but rather
on the unity of the main character. Overall, the opera progresses from one almost static scene to another, and in its totality develops the story of Gandhi's life.
Another source for the opera is the philosophical poem
"Bhagavad-Gita." This mythological text (a part of the great
Indian epic of Mahabharata) is a dialog between Prince Arjuna
and Lord Krishna. The situation incorporated into the opera
concerns Arjuna, the young warrior, who is suddenly besieged by doubts about the reasons and merits of a battle that
is about to begin. He asks Krishna for advice. The ensuing
dialog between Krishna and Arjuna forms the content of the
"Bhadavad-Gita," and provides the vocal text of the opera. It
does not advance, or in any way demonstrate or relate to the
plot, but is parallel to it. This text is sung in phoneticized
Sanskrit. Since the audience does not understand the text, it
is its musical quality that is emphasized. The audience follows
the story from the visual mise en scene and the physical action. This is probably the reason why David Poutney, the director, felt that it was necessary to be more demonstrative in
blocking some of the scenes. Furthermore, the audience at an
opera is used to reading a synopsis of the opera in the program since the performers often sing in Italian or German. It
can be considered part of the tradition of the genre. For the
full understanding of Satyagraha, the reading of the synopsis
was indispensable.
The projection of the mythological material from the
"Bhadavad-Gita" into the historical material is the most important contribution of the librettist to the concept of the opera. It does not only solve the relationship of Glass' music to
the text but it greatly determines the symbolic and philosophical aspects of the work. The "Bhadavad-Gita" had a great influence on Gandhi. It was the book according to which he led
both his political and spiritual life which, in Gandhi's case,
were one. The connection between the historical and mythological is realized in the first scene of the opera. After some
short actions demonstrating pointedly, even simplistically, the
oppression of the Indian community by the Europeans, Gandhi
hesitates to take action and become the leader in the struggle
against the oppression. This hestitation is equated to Arjuna's
hesitation at the beginning of the battle on the Kuru Field of
Justice.
The scenic realization of this parallel sets both the historical and mythological action into motion. On the stage the
mythological Kuru Field of Justice is combined with the South
African Plain. Two armies are assembled on the field. The
scene begins with Gandhi appearing upstage and walking
downstage between the two armies. At this point he begins his
solo. He first sings the Arjuna text, followed by his duet with
Arjuna who arrives in a resplendent chariot followed by
Krishna on a chariot as well. Krishna then joins them in a trio.
The armies that were lighted from behind so that their identity
would remain ambiguous are slowly lighted frontally, and they
are recognized as the Indians on one side of the stage and the
Europeans on the other.
Besides the historical and mythological, the opera has another level that can be called iconic. In each of the three acts
a different personality acts as a silent witness to the scenic
action. In the first act, it is Leo Tolstoy, in the second Rabindranath Tagore, and in the third act Martin Luther King Jr.
Both Tolsty and Tagore, an Indian author, strongly influenced
Gandhi. Martin Luther King Jr. on the other hand, suggests
the continuity of the idea of passive resistance. The audience
which is not familiar with the details of Gandhi's life cannot
grasp the full meaning of the presence of Tolstoy, assuming
that they even recognize him. This is even more problematic

with Tagore who, despite being a Nobel prize laureate in literature (1913), is not a familiar figure in the West. If not informed by the synopsis the audience can only wonder what
these personalities are supposed to represent. The only time
that the iconic level is truly evocative is in the third act. This is
not only because Martin Luther King is the easiest to recognize, but mainly because he is incorporated into the action
while Tagore and Tolstoy remain strictly outside of it. Toward
the end of the opera, after the police escort the nonresisting
Satyagraha army, Gandhi is left onstage with a few of his
friends. As night descends Gandhi lights his lantern to inspect
his sleeping friends and except for the light from the lantern,
the stage is copmletely dark. Slowly King, standing upstage
on a truncated pyramid, is lighted and suddenly in the starry
sky behind him Satyagraha's army appears, facing Martin Luther King and Gandhi below on the stage. In this one instance
the parallel between Gandhi's Satyagraha, the mythical perspective, and King's movement of civil disobedience that were
previously evoked independently are brought together visually.
It was Robert Israel's idea to set the opera out of doors.
This determined not only the design but, as Constance De
Jong pointed out, it was an important clarifying point for the
narrative influencing the entire concept of the opera. "That
clarified a lot of the movement of the narrative. Bob's suggestion that we set everything out of doors was a kind of big
sweeping simplifier. It kept us from constantly shifting interior
scenes, exterior scenes, locations." 1 For the sets Israel designed seven backdrops: one for each scene. Each backdrop
depicted a sky. As the opera takes place from dawn to night,
each image of the sky differs according to the time of day and
the mood of the scene. It begins with dawn and a sky with
clouds in the first scene of the first act, and continues to midmorning wispy clouds, noonday bright clouds, afternoon orange burning sky, twilight evening stars, and ends with the
starry sky in the last scene. Originally Israel wanted to have
the floor covered with golden grass ranging in height from
knee-high to trampled grass but for technical reasons this
idea had to be abandoned. The grass would have accentuated
the idea of fields and the contrast between them and the sky,
but even without it, it is clear that the opera is set on a vertical
axis between heaven and earth. In front of the backdrop, center stage is a twelve-foot high, truncated pyramid. From the
top of this pyramid Tolstoy, Tagore, and King are witnesses to
Gandhi's life. The platform is large enough for small sets: Tolstoy has a desk with papers and books, Tagore has a wicker
chair and a bird cage and King has a speaker's platform. The
space in front of the pyramid is the acting space. It is large
and neutral enough to be both the mythological Kuru Field of
Justice, the South African Plain or any other location. It acquires significance according to the action occurring on it,
and the scenery and props that are brought into it: the little
houses of the South African village, the frame of a farm house,
a printing press, etc. The movable sets and props that are
brought into the acting space vary in size not according to real
life scale but according to their importance in the order of
things and the over-all visual composition. For example the
working printing press is realized approximately on the ratio of
1 to 2.5 which makes it the largest object in the second scene
of the second act. At the end of this scene, when the stage is
clear of actors, the printing press, center stage and prominently lighted, its movements almost in synchronization (unintended) with the repetitive music, acquires the status of a glorified, symbolic object. The truncated pyramid goes through a
similar transformation as well when, toward the end of the last
act, in almost complete darkness, it is gradually lighted from
inside so that it appears to the audience as a glowing pyramid
moving toward them from the darkness of the backstage. The
vertical articulation of the space creates three leveles of
meaning: the historical, iconic, and mythological. The importance of the design for the concept of the opera is reflected
also in the fact that the parallels are finally brought together
on an iconic level purely by visual means. Horizontally, the

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Theatre Design & Technology - Summer 1981