Thoughts Behind the Lines

Thoughts Behind the Lines

Review of Cheshire Academy Blackbox Theater’s  “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”By Bertolt Brecht, Directed by Marc AronsonNovember 9-11, 2017Cheshire Academy, Cheshire

Cast:

Grusha Vashnadze: Samantha Weed

Azdak: Yuheng Deng

The singer: Amalia Gutierrez

Simon Shashava: Yuanjun Luo

Shalva/ Ludovico: David Mathisson

Natella Abashwili: Jiaxin Li

Georgi Abashwili: Zhengxian Lin

Prince Kazbeki: Erin King

Shauwa: Zoe Genden

Ironshirt/ Maid/ Doctor: Huijin Zheng

Maid/ Mother-in-law: Krystal Charter

The show begins with a debate between the Goat Farm and the Fruit Farm for redistributing the ownership of the valley. After the debate, the singer comes out to perform the story of the Caucasian Chalk Circle. In the story, a governor named Georgi Abashwili is killed by the Prince’s soldiers. His wife left their child in the chaos on purpose because she is jealous of the child. A kitchen maid Grusha takes the child and escapes the palace. She thinks of abandoning the child, but by seeing the soldiers who are hunting the child, she attacks them and adopts the child. When she arrives her brother’s house, she is forced to marry a peasant to cover the child; regardless she has already engaged with a soldier. When the war is over, soldiers that are protecting the governor’s wife find the child and try to take the child back. Grusha has thus been put on a trial. The judge, Azdak, helps the Grand duke to escape. While making his confession, he caught the chance to judge a fake case in front of the ironshirts. He thus becomes a judge. When doing Grusha’s case, he tests Grusha’s faith on the child. He draws a circle and decides to let Grusha and the governor’s wife hold the child and pull him from opposite direction. Grusha does not wish to tear the child apart so does not hold the child. Azdak then assigns the child to Grusha and divorces Grusha and the peasant. By understanding Grusha, the soldier she engaged with accepts the child, and they live together.

Bertolt Brecht holds a different opinion on how to design the play. His plays are usually not serving for pleasing the audience, but to convey a certain message that is constantly revealed in the play. Instead of being an attracting fantasy fiction, Brecht play is more like an allegory.

The story of the Caucasian Chalk Circle is conveying a message: the better decision is the more suitable one. The Goat Farm should be assigned to the Fruit Farm because it yields more, Grusha should not marry the peasant because they do not like each other from the very beginning, and the child should be assigned to Grusha because she cares about the child more. (As he trying to convince, communism is the better form of the society) Just like Darwin's revolutionary theory, the more suitable one should eventually become the dominant one. The theme is also shown in the stagings and the way actors act.

We will start from the superficial stagings first. The play has two layers; the second layer is acted out by the villagers according to the singer’s lyrics. It directly provides a feeling of “what happens on the stage is not real,” forcing the audience to ponder “what is the singer trying to say?” While the judge from the prologue asks the singer if she can cut the song shorter, the singer says no. This can also be seen as the evidence that the singer wants to convey a certain message because she has to finish the story as a whole to provide the full message. From the audience’s perspective, the message the singer is trying to convey is also the message of the show.

The costumes are almost all following the communist style. Assuming the show has potential in promoting the communism, the costumes help the audience easily but secretly relate the communism to the message of the show. Although I do not know if the original play was noted to have costumes in the style of Soviet working suit, I think the director designed the costumes on purpose to meet the original Brecht’s purpose.

On the other hand, as one of the actors in the show, we were told not to act with emotion, or not to be driven by the emotion. We were told to show the audience what the character is thinking. There are multiple goals in this way of acting. Firstly, it helps the actors themselves to comprehend how the show is delivered. Thus they can express the message over and over again throughout the whole show. Secondly, the show is full of implications. Including the theme of the show, acting with the thinking but not emotion will help the audience to receive the message behind the lines. For example, when Simon came from the war and saw Grusha, Grusha says she cannot come back to the capital because she knocked an iron shirt down, Simon responds: “Grusha Vashnadze must have had her reasons for that.” However, he is actually thinking: “Thank God, she is not talking about breaking the promise, as I worried about the whole time.” The small thoughts behind the lines like this gradually build up the story and finally lead to the message of the show: the better one is the more suit one.

There are some deeper implications serve for the plot, too. Such as the milk seller’s line: “Kill the soldiers if you want milk.” This line leads to Grusha’s action of knock down the soldier to protect the child. Furthermore, proving she is a better mother for the child who shoulders the risk.

I like the Deng’s Azdak the most. The character is gradually built. The character Azdak is built as a determined judge who has his own justice system that is hardly shakable by any factor. In the last scene, even though he was threatened by the governor’s wife, he finished the case on his way eventually. This characteristic also makes him a good judge on Brecht’s perspective: judge the case justly. In the best performance, Deng shows the calmness of Azdak, maintaining his principle of helping the innocent poor. Deng also acts out Azdak’s trick on the governor’s wife: acting drunk and crazy, meaning the audience can see Azdak is pretending to be crazy. Covered by the drunkenness, Azdak accomplished his tests towards Grusha, to see if she is suitable for mothering Michael Abashwili. Deng’s acting succeeds the Azdak’s lies and leads the show to the high point of the Chalk Circle.

The show is complicated. Without knowing the Brecht’s style, the show will be incomplete of its content in front of the audience. Without expecting and then finding the thoughts behind the lines, the show will be hollow. Brecht’s shows are prepared for the people who can feel the thought behind the lines, and who can sense the world behind the world.