by AMY BARRATT

If the Beatles could do it, so can Gravy Bath Productions. Is the hard-working young theatre company poised to take North America by storm, causing young girls to scream and faint? We'll get back to you on that one. For now, Madd Harold and his faithful horde are going to India, at least in spirit.

The company's most ambitious project to date - and every new GB project is more ambitious than the last - Kali Yuga is a five-hour saga that travels from modern times to ancient India. Hindu cosmology is something that artistic director Harold (aka Matthew Tiffin) has long been interested in, and the New Classical Theatre Festival (NCTF), now in its second year, seemed the right place to explore that interest.

Being the resident alternative company at the Saidye Bronfman Centre, caretakers of the Saidye ‘B' Off Centre gives the company the freedom to explore virtually anything their hearts desire. Their productions, performed on a curtained-off Saidye stage with recycled theatre seats configured differently for every play, are not part of the regular Saidye season. Last August's inaugural NCTF featured two Gravy Bath shows in repertory. This year, they have invited SaBooge Theatre to perform their latest original piece, Fathom, on alternate nights.

After last year's double-barrelled NCTF success with Coriolanus and The Portrait of Dorian Gray, all the Gravy Bathers knew was that they wanted to do something big. There was talk of remounting all three of the Shakespeares that Harold has directed over the last three years - The Tempest, Henry V and Coriolanus - but it seemed too soon, so they shelved the "trilogy" idea for another time. After a lot of talking, reading and searching the Internet, Harold says, Kali Yuga began to take shape. As usual, Harold directs, but for the first time he's also sharing the writing credit with resident scribe Anthony Kokx.

In adopting an epic structure, they've been inspired by a number of high-profile productions from Quebec and abroad. Harold mentions director Peter Brook as an inspiration, particularly his take on the Mahabharata, as well as Robert Lepage's Dragon Trilogy, among others.

One question that's bound to be asked of Madd Harold and co. is, how come they're producing these two new works in a festival with "classical" in the title? What does "New Classical" mean, anyway? The beauty of the name, says Harold, is in its flexibility. It brings together the two strains that have been present in Gravy Bath's work since the beginning (all of four years ago). The company has focused its efforts on new works by Kokx on the one hand and Shakespeare on the other, always attempting to create a "theatre of the imagination." Both Kali Yuga and Fathom, although new, are inspired by classical structures. Bingo.

Madd Harold doesn't see himself causing teenie-bopper hysteria any time soon, but Gravy Bath may soon be taking the rest of Canada by storm. Kali Yuga has been booked into Toronto's Poor Alex Theatre for three weeks in September, and GB is hoping that artistic directors from across the country will go and see it for possible inclusion in their seasons. See it here first.

Kali Yuga, part of the New Classical Theatre Festival,
Aug. 3–19 at Saidye ‘B' Off Centre (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine), 540-0774, $15–$20

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