English National Opera to present 'Satyagraha'

London, Mar 17 (UNI) After Attenborough's Gandhi, the English National Opera, whose founding principle is to make opera accessible by performing in English, announced that it will present Satyagraha, named after the Mahatma's tactic of passive resistance, and composed by Philip Glass in the 1980s.

The show will be staged during the 2006-2007 season, the company announced yesterday.

The company will present the British stage premiere of the production, written entirely in Sanskrit.

It tells the story of the Mahatma's life and time in South Africa, and his fight for civil rights of the Indian diaspora, including resistance to identity cards.

The art director of the company said it was yet to be decided as to how to make the show accessible to the audience. ''We have to work out how we're going to subtitle it. The difficulty is that what one hears-- the Sanskrit-- has nothing to do with the story. Its really quite wordy. Clearly there has to be something to help the audience,'' he said.

The language which is used to create the ambience is from the Gita. This is in tribute to the Mahatma who read it regularly, he added.

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