Our theatre visit on Tuesday night took us out to Greenwich to see the Caucasian Chalk Circle. I've been struggling with what to say about it. It's an engrossing story that was done by a very talented five member ensemble (there are actually about 20-30 characters in the play). The primary story (there's an introductory story that sets up telling the main story) is set in Russia. It involves a young peasant girl who takes custody of the governor's young son when he is killed and his wife (very selfishly) runs away (there's a rebellion going on) and abandons the child. A couple of years pass and the governor's wife comes to claim the child (because the rebellion has been put down and the child is now the heir to a fortune).
A very corrupt judge presides over the trial, but he is somewhat touched by the peasant girl's honesty. The basic struggle is who is the real mother--the biological mother or the one who has given great care at great expense to herself. The judge's solution is a variation of Solomon's strategy called the "caucasian chalk circle" They put the boy in the middle of the circle and the one who can pull her out is the obvious mother. However, the peasant girl twice lets go because she can't bear to see the child hurt. The judge pronounces her the mother.
It's a fairly powerful morality play that addresses questions of justice and fairness. It was occasionally crude (more than it needed to be) but generally a compelling story. The cast was fabulous. Using masks and variations of their body language to change characters and also playing various musical instruments in the musical elements of the story.
The trip to Greenwich was interesting in that we traveled on an elevated train (the DLR) for the first time. I like the tube, but the El helped in seeing something of what southeast London looks like.
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