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The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Playwright: Bertolt Brecht
Director: Jack Cannon
Dramaturg: Christina Wingate
Brief Synopsis of the Play
The Caucasian Chalk Circle follows
two stories unfolding in the Georgian
countryside during the onslaught of a
war against Persia: that of Grusha, a
strong-willed peasant girl, and Azdak,
a judge who brings a unique brand of
justice to the land. The first part of
the play chronicles Grusha’s rescue of
a noble infant. The child is left behind
when, in favor of her finery, his
mother neglects to take him when she
flees the razed palace. Grusha’s
subsequent struggle to survive and
evade the hands of the army that has
been set to enforce Prince Kazbeki’s
new regime leads her on a journey through the
country, the child in tow. In the meantime, Grusha
struggles to remain faithful to her beloved Simon, a
soldier who is caught fighting in the war. The second
half of the play primarily follows Azdak, a learned,
but disreputable man who is elected judge by a
group of public officials. The lives of the two
characters coincide in the end, as Azdak makes a
ruling, deciding whether Grusha can keep the child
or if he must be returned to his biological mother.
The story is set in a play-within-a-play structure,
which helps to promote the use of Brecht’s epic
theatre techniques. Though there are heavy topics
presented throughout the story, such as
assassination, child neglect, and totalitarianism, the
tones of the scenes are almost always meant to be humorous.
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Bertolt Brecht and the Style of Epic Theatre
Bertolt Brecht was a poet-playwright to
whom much credit is given for drama and
theatre performance. He was born in
Ausburg, Germany on February 10, 1898. In
1916, the eighteen-year-old Brecht wrote an
incendiary essay skewering World War I
and the concept of “Dulce st decorum est
pro patria mori” (“sweet and honourable it
is to die for your country”), which almost
resulted in his expulsion from school. His
contemplations on this topic were the
beginning of his new pacifist beliefs.
However, it was not for another decade
that he would seriously begin to immerse
himself in studies of behaviorism and
Marxism, elements of which would soon
appear in his works.
This mindset would prove to be hazardous
for Brecht. In 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power and started a fascist regime, which
sought to persecute Communists and leftwing intellectuals. Brecht fell into both of
“We are exiles, outlaws. We live
these categories, and therefore had to flee
uneasily as near the borders as we
Germany. For two years, Brecht moved
may, awaiting the day of our
from country to country, avoiding political
return.”
backlash that his fellow artists were
~Bertolt Brecht
experiencing. In 1941, Adolf Hitler’s troops
finally forced him out of Europe. Brecht
sailed from Russia to California in 1941. While in California, Brecht and 18 other
screenwriters, directors, and producers were targeted for an investigation by the
House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), the members of which
concerned themselves with rooting out Communist activity in the United States.
The group of alleged criminals was nicknamed The Hollywood Nineteen. Though
his writings are laden with Communist convictions, Brecht was able to truthfully
contest his membership of the Communist Party.
Brecht was not fond of California, but he did not wish to return to the danger of
Europe, either, so he remained in America for a longer period of time than many
of his exiled contemporaries. Though he never saw any of his plays performed in
America while he was there, He left for France in 1947, as Galileo, his second show
to meet Broadway, opened its doors. The playwright remained in Europe, traveling
to find a location that would be receptive to his writing and directorial style.
Frustrated with the lack of creative options surrounding him, Brecht began his
own company named the Berliner Ensemble, with his wife Helene Weigel. After
Brecht’s death in 1954, Weigel continued to run the Berliner Ensemble until her
own death in 1971. The company displayed Brecht’s epic theatre techniques, in
part, through the use of masks, political subject matter, creative direction, and
innovative stage mechanics. The post-Brechtian Berliner Ensemble is still in
existence, working to bring political plays to the public.
Brecht stayed in Europe until his death on August 14, 1956. Ironically, Brecht’s
troubled existence lent partially to his worldwide fame and lasting impression on
the theatrical world.
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History of the Story of the Chalk Circle:
Brecht was not the first to tell the story of two mothers competing for the rightful
charge of a child; the story of the chalk circle exists in Solomonic lore as well as
an ancient Chinese text. Brecht’s fellow German poet/playwright, Klabund, even
created an adaptation of the latter version. However, Brecht’s tale has little in
common with its predecessors, save the basic story of the chalk circle.
The following is an excerpt from The Circle of Chalk, an anonymous Chinese play
circa around 1300 A.D:
THE JUDGE: Officer, fetch a piece of chalk. You will trace below the bench a
circle, in
the center of which you will place the young child. Then you will order
the two women to wait, each of them at opposite sides of the circle. When
the real mother takes hold of him, it will be easy for the child to come
outside the circle. But the pretended mother cannot lead him out.
THE OFFICER traces a circle with the chalk and motions the child to
stand in the center of it. MRS. MA takes the child’s hand and leads him
out of the circle. HAI-TANG fails to contend with her.
THE JUDGE: IT is evident that Hai-Tang is not the mother of the child, since she
did not
come forward to draw him out of the circle.
HAI-TANG: I supplicate you, Honored Sir, to calm your wrath. If I cannot obtain
my son
without dislocating his arm or bruising his baby flesh, I would rather
perish under the blows than make the least effort to take him out of the
circle.
THE JUDGE: The sage of old once said: What man can hide what he really is?
Behold
the power of the Chalk Circle! In order to seize an inheritance, Mrs. Ma
has raised a young child that is not her own, But the Chalk Circle augustly
brought out the truth and falsehood. Mrs. Ma has an engaging exterior,
but her heart is corrupt. The true mother—Hai-Tang, is at last
recognized.
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Beginnings
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
was written in 1943-45,
originally intended for a
run on Broadway. Famed
Carleton College, 1948
actress Luise Rainer was slated to perform as Grusha, but an alleged argument
between she and Brecht halted the plans of the entire production. Instead,
Carleton College in Minnesota mounted the first showing in 1948. It was soon
picked up in Philadelphia’s Hedgerow Theatre.
Brecht directed the first European production of Chalk Circle for his theatre
company, The Berliner Ensemble. The company’s production made their debut in
London in 1956, two weeks after Brecht’s death.