Last Updated on February 1, 2025
The Chalk Circle – An epic tale that stands the test of time.
The Rose Theatre’s new production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle, adapted by Steve Waters and directed by Christopher Haydon, starts with an obvious contemporisation. The play-within-a-play construction opens to a refugee camp. The well-meaning but regulation-obsessed United Nations representative is trying to persuade two groups to return to a strip of land, newly made fertile by the construction of a damn. But, the goat farmers have been at war with the neighbouring villagers and since they had lived on the land for forty years before the war, they claim ownership. It’s to explore this theme of ownership that we move into the story-telling – the morality fable of the Chalk Circle.
At a time when Russia has attempted to annex large parts of Ukraine, there’s so much contemporary relevance that both the refugee camp and the story take on a new meaning. The original work was set in Georgia in the Caucasus (Grusinia is a Russian variant name) and, written in 1944 while Brecht was living in the USA, there are striking references to the impact of war on ownership. As host to a Ukrainian refugee who arrived with a small rucksack containing nothing more than some underwear, her laptop and her phone, I remember vividly how she was trying to get her possessions, left in an apartment in Kyiv where the windows had been blown out, to safety. Not just the red silk dress which she mentioned first – but family photos and mementoes that would be irreplaceable. I’m glad I didn’t take her with me to last night’s performance because right now the lives of so many of her friends and family are being lived in a parallel world to the one on stage.
Brecht, a German national who, after serving as a medical orderly in the First World War and developing a hatred for war, had pursued a career in theatre until the Nazis came to power in Germany. At that point, he fled and became a stateless citizen. His time in the USA was not entirely comfortable as many of his ideas were seen as too close to communist ideology and he returned to Europe in 1947 after appearing before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
The story of the Caucasian Chalk Circle, an allegorical morality fable, provides an excellent way to illustrate the question of ownership and to provoke any audience into questioning their own intent.
Amid the chaos of a bloody civil war, a kitchen maid named Grusha (Carrie Hope Fletcher) rescues an infant that has been abandoned by the fleeing governor’s wife (Joanne Kirkland) and raises the child as her own. Grusha escapes across the mountains and, although she’s engaged to the charismatically foolish Simon (Nickolia King-N’da), pays to get married to a local man who is supposedly dying. Of course, once the war ends, her new husband miraculous comes back to life and tries to assert his conjugal rights. Azdak (Jonathan Slinger), the only person in the village who can read and write, is appointed judge during the play’s second half. He’s a maverick character accepting bribes but, with a reputation for rarely ruling in favour of the wealthy often stepping outside the conventional bounds of law.
A mix-up of paperwork means that Grusha is divorced and she and Simon can finally be together. He’s now a paymaster, earning double the salary of a soldier – and he promises to be a good father to the child.
Grusha returns to the City, and the governor’s wife reappears, demanding the child’s return in order to lay claim to an inheritance. To determine who is the “true” parent, the presiding judge, Azdak invokes the ritual of the Chalk Circle, a Chinese fable which bears a striking similarity to the story of King Solomon.
Throughout the storytelling, The Singer (Zoe West) provides a narrative to challenge the audience and raise questions. Equipped with just a guitar, she performed brilliantly – a true narrator providing insight and depth to the tale. Each member of the ensemble takes on several roles, with costume changes on stage helping everyone keep up with this fast-moving and lively staging. We loved the acapella ensemble singing, perfectly executed and the soulful folk-inspired solos. The music by Michael Henry really helped to bring the production alive and, with everything from beat-box to Georgian chanting, set an inspiring aural landscape.
The set and costume design by Oli Townsend was similarly brilliant. I have to confess to a moment of despair at the start of the production when the refugee camp setting seemed just a bit too familiar and I wondered if the production would continue in the same vein. But, there was magic at work on stage and the myriad of props, with ladders and bed-frames providing anything from a dining table to a mountain range with a failing bridge, was truly engaging. Some of the detail was truly fantastic too – the judge with his wig made from bullets, the bed-frame carriage carrying silk-clad ‘ladies’ and more. With nine performers playing over fifty characters, it must have been a challenging project.
This is the first major London production of Bertolt Brecht’s epic masterpiece for 25 years. It’s one to catch – and the Rose Theatre is remarkably accessible from Central London (25 minutes on the train from Waterloo). So, do take a chance – you’ll have an evening of fine entertainment with a thought-provoking message
Rose Theatre
24-26 High Street
Kingston
KT1 1HL
4 October 2022 – 22 October 2022
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