The Caucasian Chalk Circle (Modern Plays) - Softcover

Bertolt Brecht

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0713685948 ISBN 13: 9780713685947

Publisher: Methuen Drama, 2007

Synopsis

A morality masterpiece, The Caucasian Chalk Circle powerfully demonstrates Brecht's pioneering theatrical techniques. This version by Frank McGuinness was published to coincide with the National Theatre's production which toured the UK in 2007.

A servant girl sacrifices everything to protect a child abandoned in the heat of civil war. Order restored, she is made to confront the boy's biological mother in a legal contest over who deserves to keep him. The comical judge calls on an ancient tradition - the chalk circle - to resolve the dispute. Who wins?

This version by Frank McGuinness was first presented by the National Theatre in 1997 and revived in 2007, opening at the Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury, on 8 January.

About this title

Review:

'The Caucasian Chalk Circle, written in 1944 while he was in exile from Germany, gives some epic illumination to socialist ideas about ownership and injustice. But more than that it's a story about love winning out over endemic corruption' --Dominic Maxwell, The Times

'an adept new translation by Alistair Beaton' --Dominic Maxwell, The Times

About the Author:

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and writing have had a considerable influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera and, while exiled from Germany and living in the USA, such masterpieces as The Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

About this edition

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0713685948
• ISBN 13: 9780713685947
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128