The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Encyclopedia
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a play by the German modernist
playwright Bertolt Brecht
. An example of Brecht's epic theatre
, the play is a parable
about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents.
The play was written in 1944 while Brecht was living in the United States
. It was translated into English
by Brecht's friend and admirer Eric Bentley
and its world premiere was a student production at Carleton College
, Minnesota
, in 1948. Its first professional production was at the Hedgerow Theatre
, Philadelphia, directed by Bentley. Its German premiere was in 1954 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm
, Berlin
. The Caucasian Chalk Circle is now considered one of Brecht's most important plays and it is one of the most regularly performed German plays.
The play is a reworking of Brecht's earlier short story
, Der Augsburger Kreidekreis, and both derive from the 14th-century Chinese play Circle of Chalk
by Li Xingdao
.
". The "frame" play is set in the Soviet Union
around the end of the Second World War. It shows a dispute between two communes
, the Rosa Luxemburg
fruit growing commune and the Galinsk goat farming commune, over who is to own and manage an area of farm land after the Nazis have retreated from a village and left it abandoned. A parable
has been organised by one group, an old folk tale, to be played out to cast light on the dispute. The Singer, Arkadi Cheidze, arrives with his band of musicians, then tells the peasants the fable, which forms the main narrative, and intertwines throughout much of the play. The Singer often takes on the thoughts of characters, enhances the more dramatic scenes with stronger narration than simple dialogue
, and is responsible for most scene and time changes. Often the role is accompanied by several "musicians" (which usually incorporate music into the play itself) that help the Singer keep the play running smoothly. At the end he states that the land should go to those who will use it most productively, the fruit growers, and not those who had previous ownership.
The Singer continues the story as the soldier contacts two architects for the Governor's new mansion, the Ironshirts, gestapo
-esque guards, turn on him. The Fat Prince has orchestrated a coup and is now in control. The Governor is quickly beheaded. Simon finds Grusha and proposes, giving her his silver cross. Grusha accepts. Simon runs off to fulfill his duty to the Governor's wife, who has been foolishly packing clothing for the "trip", caring nothing for the loss of her husband. She is carried off, away from the flaming city of Nuhka and inadvertently leaves her son, Michael, behind. Grusha is left with the boy and, after seeing the Governor's head nailed to the church door, takes him with her to the mountains. Music is often incorporated throughout much of this scene with the aid of the Singer, musicians, and possibly Grusha, as Brecht includes actual "songs" within the text.
and lives there for quite some time. Rumours spread in the village, and Lavrenti convinces Grusha to marry a dying peasant, Yussup, in order to quell them. She reluctantly agrees. Guests arrive at the wedding–funeral, including the Singer and musicians, which act as the hired musicians for the event, and gossip endlessly. It is revealed that the Grand Duke is overthrowing the princes and the civil war has finally ended, and no one can be drafted anymore. At this, the supposedly dead villager Yussup returns to "life", and it becomes clear he was only "ill" when the possibility of being drafted was present. Grusha finds herself married. For months, Grusha's new husband tries to make her a 'real wife', but she refuses. Years pass, and Simon finds Grusha while washing clothes in the river. They have a sweet exchange before Simon jokingly asks if she has found another man. Grusha struggles to tell him she has unwillingly married, then Simon spots Michael. The following scene between the two is told predominantly by the Singer, who speaks for each of the two character's thoughts, and is easily the most heartbreaking part of the play. However, Ironshirts arrive carrying Michael in, and ask Grusha if she is his mother, she says that she is, and Simon leaves distraught. The Governor's Wife wants the child back and Grusha must go to court back in Nukha. The Singer ends the act with questions about Grusha's future, and reveals that there is another story we must learn: the story of Azdak. If an intermission
is used, this is generally where it is placed.
The Fat Prince enters, looking to secure the Ironshirts' support in making his nephew a new judge. Azdak suggests they hold a mock trial to test him; the Fat Prince agrees. Azdak plays the accused in the trial - the Grand Duke. He makes several very successful jabs against the Princes' corruption, and amuses the Ironshirts enough that they appoint him instead of the Fat Prince's nephew: "The judge was always a chancer; now let a chancer be the judge!"
Azdak remains himself on the bench. He uses a large law book as a pillow to sit on. What follows is a series of short scenes, interspersed by the "song" of the Singer, in which he judges in favor of the poor, the oppressed, and good-hearted bandits; in one set of cases in which all the plaintiffs and the accused are corrupt, he passes a completely nonsensical set of judgments. But it doesn't last forever; the Grand Duke returns to power, the Fat Prince is beheaded, and Azdak is about to be hanged by the Grand Duke's Ironshirts when a pardon arrives appointing "a certain Azdak of Nuka" as a judge in gratitude for "saving a life essential to the realm," i.e. the Grand Duke's own. "His Honour Azdak is now His Honour Azdak;" the wife of the beheaded governor instantly dislikes him, but decides he'll be needed for the trial in which she'll recover her son from Grusha. The act closes with Azdak obsequious and afraid for his life, promising to restore Michael to the Governor's Wife, behead Grusha, and do whatever else the Governor's Wife wants: "It will all be arranged as you order, your Excellency. As you order."
. Though there is no officially published score, the show is generally played with original music and songs performed by the cast. Many composers have created unique original scores for Caucasian Chalk Circle. One score performed regularly is by American composer, Mark Nichols
, who based his music on traditional Georgian folk harmonies in polyphony
.
The play is sometimes played without the prologue, and it was always played that way in the US during the McCarthy era
. (The first US production to include the prologue was in 1965.) There is some dispute about how integral the prologue is to Brecht's conception of the play. Some claim that he regarded it as an integral part of his play, and it was present in the earliest drafts. Others claim that it was only included in later drafts. However there is agreement that he originally intended to set in the 1930s, but later updated it.
The setting of the play is clearly Georgia
in the Caucasus, although it is described as "Grusinia
" (a Russian variant name) in the main play. Most of the characters have Georgian (or Georgian-like) names, and Tiflis
and the poet Mayakovsky
are mentioned in the prologue. However the city where much of the action takes place, Nuka, is in modern Azerbaijan
, although it was under Georgian rule for a time in the Middle Ages. There are also Iran
ian elements in the play, including the name of the character Azdak, who says he comes from there.
Brecht did not necessarily intend his play to be a realistic portrayal of either contemporary or mediaeval Georgia. Even in the Soviet Union, some people found it more German than Russian or Georgian, and pointed out that it did not accurately portray the decision-making procedures in Soviet agriculture.
Modernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
playwright Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
. An example of Brecht's epic theatre
Epic theatre
Epic theatre was a theatrical movement arising in the early to mid-20th century from the theories and practice of a number of theatre practitioners, including Erwin Piscator, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Vsevolod Meyerhold and, most famously, Bertolt Brecht...
, the play is a parable
Parable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
about a peasant girl who rescues a baby and becomes a better mother than its natural parents.
The play was written in 1944 while Brecht was living in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was translated into English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
by Brecht's friend and admirer Eric Bentley
Eric Bentley
Eric Bentley is a critic, playwright, singer, editor and translator. He became an American citizen in 1948, and currently lives in New York City...
and its world premiere was a student production at Carleton College
Carleton College
Carleton College is an independent non-sectarian, coeducational, liberal arts college in Northfield, Minnesota, USA. The college enrolls 1,958 undergraduate students, and employs 198 full-time faculty members. In 2012 U.S...
, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, in 1948. Its first professional production was at the Hedgerow Theatre
Hedgerow Theatre
Hedgerow Theatre is a theatre company based in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. It is the oldest residential repertory theatre company in the United States....
, Philadelphia, directed by Bentley. Its German premiere was in 1954 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm
Theater am Schiffbauerdamm
The Theater am Schiffbauerdamm is a theatre building at the Schiffbauerdamm riverside in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, opened on November 19, 1892. Since 1954 it is home to the Berliner Ensemble theatre company, founded in 1949 by Helene Weigel and Bertolt Brecht.The original name of the...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. The Caucasian Chalk Circle is now considered one of Brecht's most important plays and it is one of the most regularly performed German plays.
The play is a reworking of Brecht's earlier short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
, Der Augsburger Kreidekreis, and both derive from the 14th-century Chinese play Circle of Chalk
Circle of Chalk
Circle of Chalk , by Li Xingdao , is a Yuan dynasty Chinese classical zaju verse play, in four acts with a prologue...
by Li Xingdao
Li Xingdao
Li Xingdao was a 14th century Chinese playwright. His works include Hui Lan Ji which was used as the basis for Bertolt Brecht's 1948 play Caucasian Chalk Circle....
.
Prologue
Brecht, in his typical anti-realist style, uses the device of a "play within a playStory within a story
A story within a story, also rendered story-within-a-story, is a literary device in which one narrative is presented during the action of another narrative. Mise en abyme is the French term for a similar literary device...
". The "frame" play is set in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
around the end of the Second World War. It shows a dispute between two communes
Kolkhoz
A kolkhoz , plural kolkhozy, was a form of collective farming in the Soviet Union that existed along with state farms . The word is a contraction of коллекти́вное хозя́йство, or "collective farm", while sovkhoz is a contraction of советское хозяйство...
, the Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg
Rosa Luxemburg was a Marxist theorist, philosopher, economist and activist of Polish Jewish descent who became a naturalized German citizen...
fruit growing commune and the Galinsk goat farming commune, over who is to own and manage an area of farm land after the Nazis have retreated from a village and left it abandoned. A parable
Parable
A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...
has been organised by one group, an old folk tale, to be played out to cast light on the dispute. The Singer, Arkadi Cheidze, arrives with his band of musicians, then tells the peasants the fable, which forms the main narrative, and intertwines throughout much of the play. The Singer often takes on the thoughts of characters, enhances the more dramatic scenes with stronger narration than simple dialogue
Dialogue
Dialogue is a literary and theatrical form consisting of a written or spoken conversational exchange between two or more people....
, and is responsible for most scene and time changes. Often the role is accompanied by several "musicians" (which usually incorporate music into the play itself) that help the Singer keep the play running smoothly. At the end he states that the land should go to those who will use it most productively, the fruit growers, and not those who had previous ownership.
Scene one: The Noble Child
The Singer's story begins with Governor Georgi Abashvili and his wife Natella blatantly ignoring the citizens on the way to Easter Mass. The Singer shows us the show's antagonist, Arsen Kazbeki, the Fat Prince. He sucks up to the pair and remarks how their new child Michael is "a governor from head to toe." They enter the church, leaving the peasants behind. Next to be introduced is the heroine Grusha Vashnadze, a maid to the governor's wife. Grusha, while carrying a goose for the Easter meal, meets a soldier, Simon Chachava, who reveals he has watched her bathe in the rivers. She storms off enraged.The Singer continues the story as the soldier contacts two architects for the Governor's new mansion, the Ironshirts, gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
-esque guards, turn on him. The Fat Prince has orchestrated a coup and is now in control. The Governor is quickly beheaded. Simon finds Grusha and proposes, giving her his silver cross. Grusha accepts. Simon runs off to fulfill his duty to the Governor's wife, who has been foolishly packing clothing for the "trip", caring nothing for the loss of her husband. She is carried off, away from the flaming city of Nuhka and inadvertently leaves her son, Michael, behind. Grusha is left with the boy and, after seeing the Governor's head nailed to the church door, takes him with her to the mountains. Music is often incorporated throughout much of this scene with the aid of the Singer, musicians, and possibly Grusha, as Brecht includes actual "songs" within the text.
Scenes two and three Flight to the Northern Mountains
The Singer opens the scene with an air of escape. At the beginning of this act we see Grusha trying to escape to the mountains by disguising herself as a noblewoman, she is quickly found out after an encounter with a road-side hotel, and starts to walk instead, followed shortly by the ironshirts. Grusha then finds a home for Michael to stay in. Abandoning him on the doorstep, he is adopted by a peasant woman. Grusha has mixed emotions about this, which change when she meets a perverted Corporal and Ironshirts who are looking for the child. He suspects something about her, and Grusha is forced to knock him out to save Michael. She wearily retreats to her brother's mountain farm. Lavrenti, Grusha's brother, fabricates a story to his jealous wife Aniko, claiming that Michael is Grusha's child and she is on her way to find the father's farm. Grusha catches scarlet feverScarlet fever
Scarlet fever is a disease caused by exotoxin released by Streptococcus pyogenes. Once a major cause of death, it is now effectively treated with antibiotics...
and lives there for quite some time. Rumours spread in the village, and Lavrenti convinces Grusha to marry a dying peasant, Yussup, in order to quell them. She reluctantly agrees. Guests arrive at the wedding–funeral, including the Singer and musicians, which act as the hired musicians for the event, and gossip endlessly. It is revealed that the Grand Duke is overthrowing the princes and the civil war has finally ended, and no one can be drafted anymore. At this, the supposedly dead villager Yussup returns to "life", and it becomes clear he was only "ill" when the possibility of being drafted was present. Grusha finds herself married. For months, Grusha's new husband tries to make her a 'real wife', but she refuses. Years pass, and Simon finds Grusha while washing clothes in the river. They have a sweet exchange before Simon jokingly asks if she has found another man. Grusha struggles to tell him she has unwillingly married, then Simon spots Michael. The following scene between the two is told predominantly by the Singer, who speaks for each of the two character's thoughts, and is easily the most heartbreaking part of the play. However, Ironshirts arrive carrying Michael in, and ask Grusha if she is his mother, she says that she is, and Simon leaves distraught. The Governor's Wife wants the child back and Grusha must go to court back in Nukha. The Singer ends the act with questions about Grusha's future, and reveals that there is another story we must learn: the story of Azdak. If an intermission
Intermission
An intermission or interval is a recess between parts of a performance or production, such as for a theatrical play, opera, concert, or film screening....
is used, this is generally where it is placed.
Scene four: The Story of the Judge
The scene opens as if a different play entirely, yet set within the same war setting, is beginning. The Singer introduces another hero named Azdak. Azdak shelters a "peasant" and protects him from authorities by a demonstration of convoluted logic. He later realizes that he sheltered the Grand Duke himself; since he thinks the rebellion is an uprising against the government itself, he turns himself in for his "class treason." But the rebellion isn't a populist one - in fact, the princes are trying to suppress a populist rebellion occurring as a result of their own - and Azdak renounces his revolutionary ideas to keep the Ironshirts from killing him as a radical.The Fat Prince enters, looking to secure the Ironshirts' support in making his nephew a new judge. Azdak suggests they hold a mock trial to test him; the Fat Prince agrees. Azdak plays the accused in the trial - the Grand Duke. He makes several very successful jabs against the Princes' corruption, and amuses the Ironshirts enough that they appoint him instead of the Fat Prince's nephew: "The judge was always a chancer; now let a chancer be the judge!"
Azdak remains himself on the bench. He uses a large law book as a pillow to sit on. What follows is a series of short scenes, interspersed by the "song" of the Singer, in which he judges in favor of the poor, the oppressed, and good-hearted bandits; in one set of cases in which all the plaintiffs and the accused are corrupt, he passes a completely nonsensical set of judgments. But it doesn't last forever; the Grand Duke returns to power, the Fat Prince is beheaded, and Azdak is about to be hanged by the Grand Duke's Ironshirts when a pardon arrives appointing "a certain Azdak of Nuka" as a judge in gratitude for "saving a life essential to the realm," i.e. the Grand Duke's own. "His Honour Azdak is now His Honour Azdak;" the wife of the beheaded governor instantly dislikes him, but decides he'll be needed for the trial in which she'll recover her son from Grusha. The act closes with Azdak obsequious and afraid for his life, promising to restore Michael to the Governor's Wife, behead Grusha, and do whatever else the Governor's Wife wants: "It will all be arranged as you order, your Excellency. As you order."
Scene five: The Chalk Circle
This is the first scene to open without the Singer, however it is clear that we have returned to Grusha's story. We meet Grusha in court, supported by a former cook of the Governor and Simon Chachaba, who will swear he is the father of the boy. Natella Abashvili comes in with two lawyers, who each reassure her things will be taken care of. Azdak is beaten by Ironshirts, who are told he is an enemy of the state. A rider comes in with a proclamation, stating the Grand Duke has reappointed Azdak as judge. Azdak is cleaned up and the trial begins. The trial, however, does not begin with Grusha and the Grand Duke's wife, but with a very elderly married couple who wish to divorce. Azdak is unable to make a decision on this case, so he sets it aside to hear the next case on the docket. The prosecution comes forth and liberally bribes Azdak in hopes of swinging the verdict. It is revealed that Natella only wants the child because all the estates and finances of the Governor are tied to her heir and cannot be accessed without him. Grusha's defense does not go over well, as it develops into her and Simon insulting Azdak for taking bribes. Azdak fines them for this but, after consideration, claims he can't find the true mother. He decides that he will have to devise a test. A circle of chalk is drawn, and Michael is placed in the center. The true mother, Azdak states, will be able to pull the child from the center. If they both pull, they will tear the child in half and get half each. The test begins but (akin to the Judgement of Solomon) Grusha refuses to pull as she cannot bear to hurt Michael. Azdak gives her one more chance, but again she cannot pull Michael. During this dilemma, a poignant song is sung by the Singer as a reflection of Grusha's thoughts toward Michael. The others onstage cannot hear this, but they feel the overwhelming emotion through Grusha. Azdak declares that Grusha is the true mother, as she loves Michael too much to be able to hurt him. The Governor's wife is told that the estates shall fall to the city and be made into a garden for children called "Azdak's Garden". Simon pays Azdak his fine. Azdak tells the old couple he shall divorce them, but "accidentally" divorces Grusha and the peasant man, leaving her free to marry Simon. Everyone dances off happily as Azdak disappears. The Singer remarks upon Azdak's wisdom and notes that in the ending, everyone got what they deserved.Music
Brecht wrote a number of 'songs' as part of the piece, and one of its main characters is called the Singer. In 1944 the production was scored by Paul DessauPaul Dessau
Paul Dessau was a German composer and conductor.- Biography :Dessau was born in Hamburg into a musical family...
. Though there is no officially published score, the show is generally played with original music and songs performed by the cast. Many composers have created unique original scores for Caucasian Chalk Circle. One score performed regularly is by American composer, Mark Nichols
Mark Nichols (American Composer/Playwright)
Mark Nichols is an American playwright, composer and lyricist. He began his writing career as a solo artist on Seattle's Pop Llama Records after playing keyboards in bands like The Squirrels and Prudence Dredge. Best known for his musicals Little Boy Goes to Hell , Joe Bean , and How to Survive...
, who based his music on traditional Georgian folk harmonies in polyphony
Polyphony
In music, polyphony is a texture consisting of two or more independent melodic voices, as opposed to music with just one voice or music with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ....
.
Comments
Brecht made a crucial change from the Chinese play which was his source. In it, it is the child's birth mother who lets go and wins custody of the child. Near the end of the prologue, the Singer says that this is an old story of Chinese origin, but with a modern re-write.The play is sometimes played without the prologue, and it was always played that way in the US during the McCarthy era
McCarthyism
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence. The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from the late 1940s to the late 1950s and characterized by...
. (The first US production to include the prologue was in 1965.) There is some dispute about how integral the prologue is to Brecht's conception of the play. Some claim that he regarded it as an integral part of his play, and it was present in the earliest drafts. Others claim that it was only included in later drafts. However there is agreement that he originally intended to set in the 1930s, but later updated it.
The setting of the play is clearly Georgia
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
in the Caucasus, although it is described as "Grusinia
Name of Georgia
Georgia is an exonym for the nation in the Caucasus whose self-designation is Sakartvelo . The exonym has been variously explained as being derived from the Greek γεωργός , the name of St. George, and from ancient Persian designations of the Georgians...
" (a Russian variant name) in the main play. Most of the characters have Georgian (or Georgian-like) names, and Tiflis
Tbilisi
Tbilisi is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mt'k'vari River. The name is derived from an early Georgian form T'pilisi and it was officially known as Tiflis until 1936...
and the poet Mayakovsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was a Russian and Soviet poet and playwright, among the foremost representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism.- Early life :...
are mentioned in the prologue. However the city where much of the action takes place, Nuka, is in modern Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan , officially the Republic of Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to...
, although it was under Georgian rule for a time in the Middle Ages. There are also Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
ian elements in the play, including the name of the character Azdak, who says he comes from there.
Brecht did not necessarily intend his play to be a realistic portrayal of either contemporary or mediaeval Georgia. Even in the Soviet Union, some people found it more German than Russian or Georgian, and pointed out that it did not accurately portray the decision-making procedures in Soviet agriculture.
External links
- Songs from Chalk Circle by Mark Nichols
- The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Heinemann edition, 1960, in Google Books. (Some pages are not part of this book preview)