The ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle’ is a play within a play, set in a small village in Soviet Russia at the end of the Second World War.

The prologue deals with a dispute by two parties over a valley which was left abandoned by the Nazis after the conflict had ceased. The factions debate the future management and ownership of the valley and end up agreeing unanimously that the land should go to the group who would put it to best use. To celebrate, a troupe of performers, with support of the villagers, enact a fable which makes up the main part of our play.

Brecht’s fable is derived from the 14^th century Chinese play ‘Circle of Chalk’ by Li Xingdao and encompasses the ideas of human morality and nature. It asks who should win the child in a contest for the right to call him their own? The biological mother or the servant girl who risks everything to protect the child? The characters are strongly written through a twisting turning plot which will keep you on your toes. This play comes with a good blend of the comedic and the dramatic, all the while attacking injustice and social inequality.