CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE: Brecht, Trans Stern/ Auden, Orange Tree till 8 December

THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE: Bertolt Brecht: trans, James & Tania Stern with W H Auden
Prologue by James Saunders with Sam Walters and the company

Orange Tree: Tkts, 020 8940 3633
Runs 2h 40m, One interval, till 8 December 2001
Review: Vera Lustig, 2 November

Fleet-footed, compassionate production, true both to Brecht's theories on staging and to itself: superb ensemble work, warmly recommended
Which is the better vehicle for a theatrical discussion about ownership: an exotic tale or a debate about a contested stretch of land down the road? In his prologue, James Saunders sets up a tug-of-war between those two alternatives, having the 'performance' of the tale hijacked by an actor questioning its relevance. That brief tussle over ownership in the broadest sense foreshadows the tug-of-love at the climax of Brecht's 1945 parable.

The parochial story is dumped, and with a percussive shout of 'Once. Upon. A. Time. ' the fable begins. Brecht's Epic Theatre fuses with highly physicalised story-telling. The house-lights stay on; the actors are always in view; they create their own sound effects and scenery: a line of actors becomes a shaky bridge over a ravine for a suspenseful chase.

Inching along that bridge is Grusha, a servant, holding Michael, the Governor's baby, whom she had rescued during a putsch. After she has jeopardised everything for the child, she risks losing him to his birth-mother. Michael is represented by a cushion, golden one side, workaday brown the other. Even a baby has contradictions.

Similarly, roles are seamlessly shared by several actors in succession. Using fine, sure brush-strokes, Anna Hewson plays the young Grusha (in a scene that recreates the fragility of new-found love) and. later, Grusha's rival in the custody-battle. Handy-dandy, which is the mistress, which is the maid? Clearly a non-judgemental actor, Ms Hewson makes no crude, agitprop distinctions between virtuous plebeian and venal aristo.

Rightly so: as insurrection rages, the Governor's Wife hunts for her saffron slippers, Brecht equating vanity with decadence. Yet today, for Afghan women, clandestine beauty sessions are a form of resistance. This is a Caucasian Chalk Circle for a world Brecht could never have envisioned.

Cast:
Jane Arden, Cate Debenham-Taylor, Anna Hewson, Octavia Walters, David Antrobus, Jason Baughan, Stuart Fox, Robert McBain, Eric MacLennan, Frank Moorey, Stuart Burgess

Director: Sam Walters
Music: Peter Durrent

2001-11-24 21:54:50