The Caucasian Chalk Circle

Synopsis

When the Governor's Wife abandons her baby in her haste to keep her collection of dresses, Grusha, the humble kitchen maid, saves the child from death and faces danger and adversity to protect him. A drunken village clerk, Azdak, is made judge by accident and tries her case. An epic and compelling morality tale of possession and rights.

Our Review:

12 March 2007

Who cares any more about Bertolt Brecht? His name rarely crops up in theatrical discussion without a righteous sneer about dated Marxist gobbledegook attached. And yet his greatest plays – and The Caucasian Chalk Circle is clearly one of them – define our modern times and debates like no other, and provide great canvases for ensemble acting.

This play, first performed in 1947, is a parable of ownership and responsibility, setting the story of Grusha the peasant girl’s campaign to possess the governor’s child she has saved from a fire within a land dispute between rival agrarian collectives.

It combines elements of Georgian folk drama with post-War realism and an informal, baggy structure pinned together (just about) with songs. Half way through, of one of Brecht’s greatest characters, the drunk and chaotic village scribe Azdak, arrives to sort everything out. The valley is reclaimed by those who can best tend it, and the child is consigned to Grusha ...

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Latest User Review

Gareth James - 12 April 2007:

I don't know whether it was the play or the production, but I was completely unengaged, bored and disinterested. It seemed like an early rehearsal of some third rate agitprop by The Wooster Group. Yawn........

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