I viewed The Caucasian Chalk Circle on Friday, November 11. It was shown in the Cheshire Academy Black Box theater. This play was written by Bertolucci Brecht and translated by Bertolucci Brecht. In the beginning of the actual story there is a wealthy governor, his wife, and their baby son, Michael. After the governor was brutally murdered, his wife decided to flee. She decided to have her servants pack her dresses before she knew her baby was safe. She fled with her dresses, leaving the baby without a mother. A chamber maid passes by and because of her kind heart she takes the baby, even with the chance of risking her own life. She then fled the city for the mountains. After being chased by the army, she then dropped the infant off at a peasant woman's home. The army found them again, and once again the maid fled with the baby. This time it was to her brother’s house. Because of her unmarried status, her brother’s wife made her live in the attic. After months of living there, her brother sets her up to marry a man supposedly on his deathbed. She weds him, but after the war is over and no more drafts are being made, the man admits to faking his sickness. In a different place a new drunk judge has been appointed. Soon, the governor’s wife returns requesting she gets her soon back. They then go to court. After listening to both sides of the story, the drunk judge draws a white circle made of chalk on the ground. He then tells Michael to stand in the circle, and whoever could pull him out was his real mother. The governor’s wife pulled him out first, but the judge decided to give Michael to the maid instead.
In this play, I found it very interesting that in between scenes they used blue lighting in between scenes. I am not sure if this was on purpose, but it seemed very effective being able to see the characters set up, especially in the first scene. Something very different about this play, is that the scenes were long. In the whole show there were only five scenes in a two hour show. Secondly, I found the black structure with stairs to be very multipurpose. This structure went from being a bridge to being a courtroom with just the change of props. I also felt the roll on houses were a creative idea to make it seem like they were a separate place than the city or the mountains. Thirdly, the costuming was very smart. They used pieces that they could stack, so they could be more than one character. This seemed very helpful because of the small cast and the large amount of characters. Every person could keep the same base on, but then put on coats or hats to completely change who they were. In this play, I was not expecting the beginning to start with a song. It made you start thinking before the show even started. I believe this song helped set the tone of the whole rest of the show. Finally, for staging they really used the whole stage. There was also a balance between scenes. This meaning they were both sedentary at some points and then moving, it was not too much of either. If I were to change one thing it would have made the fourth scene a little shorter or added more movement because it seemed like the same people on stage for a long amount of time. Overall, the structure of the play was very good.
In this play my favorite character was Grusha Vashnadze, played by Samantha Weed. She is my favorite actor because she truly showed the loving and caring a nature of her character. She also had the best tone and physical acting in the show. Her body and voice also showed how much she cares about her life and the life of others. Specifically at the end, when she begging the judge to keep Michael she showed what seemed to be a true emotion of caring and love, which can be challenging for a young actress. All in all, I think she did a wonderful job!
Overall, I liked the play but I was confused at some points. I really enjoyed the first half, and I believed it was an old take on new issues. I was confused at the beginning of the second half but as it continued I figured out what was happening. I enjoyed the ending and I felt satisfied with ending when I left the theater. During this show I learned that using a small space to not prohibit good staging. This show is an example of how a smaller space was used in a fantastic way. Overall, I really enjoyed this show!
In this play, I found it very interesting that in between scenes they used blue lighting in between scenes. I am not sure if this was on purpose, but it seemed very effective being able to see the characters set up, especially in the first scene. Something very different about this play, is that the scenes were long. In the whole show there were only five scenes in a two hour show. Secondly, I found the black structure with stairs to be very multipurpose. This structure went from being a bridge to being a courtroom with just the change of props. I also felt the roll on houses were a creative idea to make it seem like they were a separate place than the city or the mountains. Thirdly, the costuming was very smart. They used pieces that they could stack, so they could be more than one character. This seemed very helpful because of the small cast and the large amount of characters. Every person could keep the same base on, but then put on coats or hats to completely change who they were. In this play, I was not expecting the beginning to start with a song. It made you start thinking before the show even started. I believe this song helped set the tone of the whole rest of the show. Finally, for staging they really used the whole stage. There was also a balance between scenes. This meaning they were both sedentary at some points and then moving, it was not too much of either. If I were to change one thing it would have made the fourth scene a little shorter or added more movement because it seemed like the same people on stage for a long amount of time. Overall, the structure of the play was very good.
In this play my favorite character was Grusha Vashnadze, played by Samantha Weed. She is my favorite actor because she truly showed the loving and caring a nature of her character. She also had the best tone and physical acting in the show. Her body and voice also showed how much she cares about her life and the life of others. Specifically at the end, when she begging the judge to keep Michael she showed what seemed to be a true emotion of caring and love, which can be challenging for a young actress. All in all, I think she did a wonderful job!
Overall, I liked the play but I was confused at some points. I really enjoyed the first half, and I believed it was an old take on new issues. I was confused at the beginning of the second half but as it continued I figured out what was happening. I enjoyed the ending and I felt satisfied with ending when I left the theater. During this show I learned that using a small space to not prohibit good staging. This show is an example of how a smaller space was used in a fantastic way. Overall, I really enjoyed this show!
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