Ed Fringe 2010: The Caucasian Chalk Circle – The Zoo

Writer: Bertolt Brecht

Adaptor: Alistair Beaton

Reviewer: Elizabeth Vile

The Public Reviews Rating:

This is a production that reminded me why I love the works of Bertolt Brecht. The Caucasian chalk circle tells the story of a young serving girl and her struggle to look after her mistresses child after he has been abandoned during an insurrection. It is full of drama, comedy, pathos, love and powerful messages about war, greed and justice.

This play needs a strong, focused cast to bring it to life and to keep the audience interested. 3BUGS has created just such a production. From the moment the audience enter the space they are immersed in the piece. The company are very faithful to Brecht’s performance concept and the use of drum beats and acapella really enhanced the atmosphere of the piece. I was worried that the singing would become repetitive but each time the singing began it was always different and never boring. The puppet also worried me, as its movements seemed slightly awkward at times, but by the end I was completely won over by the bond displayed between Grusha and the child (puppet).

The exaggerated, larger than life characters, were portrayed brilliantly and the multi-roling was very effective, with just the slight costume change the actor became a completely different person. There was no weak link in the cast and there was a real company feel about the piece. The translation also deserves a mention as it was delicately and very cleverly done. The language used never felt clunky or drawn out, the mixture of traditional language and contemporary speech flowed together seamlessly with the songs to create a powerful and thought provoking piece of writing.

This show is one of the best examples of a company performance I have seen at the fringe so far, it is innovative, imaginative and completely engrossing and definitely rekindled my love of the Brectian style of performance.