Revolution – a city turned upside down. The mighty tumble, the weak break their fall and everyone must take care. As she picks a path through the chaos, a young servant girl must make a choice: save her own skin or sacrifice everything to rescue an abandoned child with a price on his head.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is one of the greatest plays of the last Century, crafted by a grand master of storytelling at the height of his powers and peopled with a wild array of vivid and amusing characters. Written in the wake of the Second World War. This timeless parable continues to ask urgent questions about justice, and how to do right when the world goes wrong.
The full epic sweep and scale of this powerful drama is brought to life by a large cast of actor musicians. Rich in music and song this production gives full voice to Brecht’s powerful tale of the terrible temptation to do good.
A theatrical triumph.
A radical revisit of an already radical play.
Not without merit, this production is nevertheless too cluttered to change people’s worlds in the way Brecht might have liked.
Exhilarating and involving, The Caucasian Chalk Circle makes great use of the resources available to the Lyceum. There is an uncontrolled feeling to much of the production that is paradoxically a tribute to the careful craft and intelligence on display.
Mark Thomson’s 13-strong ensemble – including a superb Christopher Fairbank as Azdak – perform like a company possessed by the briliance and significance of their story; they are funny, moving, compelling, unstoppable, right to the final fade to darkness.
With the business of bad governments at a global premium just now, there is no better time for a production of Brecht's epic, which Thomson invests with warmth and sensitivity rarely seen in Brecht.
It’s a tremendous show.
This Chalk Circle is another triumph for the Lyceum, and proof positive that Brecht still has much to offer to the 21st-century theatre.
A truly exceptional evening.
If it sometimes falters when up against the more torturous aspects of Brecht’s storytelling, there are plenty of entertaining and moving moments.
Mark Thomson takes on Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Lyceum
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Wednesday February 18, 2015, until Saturday March 14, 2015. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk
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