"An elegiac play of stark and uncommon beauty…Any sense that its scenes, with their homiletic wisdom, are ripe for parody is forestalled by the acting. It is a style of eloquent economy, which embraces wit as well as solemnity...In recent years, Mr. Brook has been moving toward a distillation of spectacle into simplicity. Still, there remains a sort of wondrous spectacle in 'Battlefield."
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"Brook and Estienne clearly find profound, present meaning in this tale of Pyrrhic victory. But the didactic, story-time quality of the production dims the ancient source's radiance...Brook and Estienne preside over something graceful, all elements smiling meaningfully, the gurus delivering wisdom. Yet 'Battlefield' seems to want to impart lessons without really listening to their implications. I love Brook...But against such willful simplicity, even a worshipper at his altar must take up arms."
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"The questions raised by the story are eternal. All are stripped down to their plainest form and enacted with passion and nimbleness by the superb cast of four...The production’s deliberate limitation of expressive tricks created emotions so inverse-proportionally large that they could only be released in tears. I cried...Luckily we have Brook back among us to demonstrate once again that contemporary theater can and should be talking to 'a large mainstream audience,' not just to itself."
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"There's a great amount of reflection, but precious little action in this sleepy adaptation of the legendary theatrical event...The actors all speak in a uniformly halting and deliberate tone, seemingly meant to emphasize the fact that the story they're telling is very important...With its mystical seriousness and fetishization of ancient eastern wisdom, there is something very deadly about 'Battlefield,' a show that seems to be riding on the reputation of glories past."
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"The minimalist production exudes a meditative mood and audience members might well draw parallels between the ancient text and our modern world. At its best, 'Battlefield' is elegantly played by a fine company, but the slow solemnity of the proceedings can be a bit taxing. Still, there's an appeal to the piece that comes from connecting contemporary views with two worlds; one of centuries ago and one of just a few decades past."
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"Brook and his collaborator, Marie-Hélène Estienne, have distilled the show into a hushed, seventy-minute ritual of storytelling and theatre allegory–one that resonates profoundly in our own war-torn times...The miracle of Peter Brook’s storytelling lies in its exquisite economy and simplicity...Employing myth, ritual and symbol–the three essential classical ingredients of theatre–Brook and his collaborators tell a story for our times."
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"Brooks’ signature empty space of an exquisitely lit, unadorned stage is the setting for diamond-sharp performances that are cadenced like a sutra chant...The precision and harmony of the five performers are exemplary and perfectly matched to the gravity and timelessness of the 'Mahabharata’s' themes...'Battlefield' may tell of a horrific conflict and chastise the vanity of mankind, but we emerge feeling as though we have glimpsed dharma."
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"It would be wonderful to report that the pain dramatized in 'Battlefield' is outdated. Unfortunately, the anguish over what we are asked to feel in this production leaps across the years. It also makes for a very special theater experience...'Battlefield' becomes consistently mesmerizing, enveloping the audience in a total experience with a flow of talk and movement of great smoothness...Yet another feather in the cap of the renowned Peter Brook, now 91 years old and still making his mark."
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