ation

Educ

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

by Bertolt Brecht
in a version by Frank McGuinness

Produced by National Theatre Education

Directed by Sean Holmes with Filter Theatre

Workpack

Tour details
Introduction
Story
Filter
Production history
Interview with Frank McGuinness
Language
Geography
Shakespeare
Sources
Design
Themes
Timeframes
Character
Epic Theatre

The
Brecht timeline
Quotes
Follow-up work

Caucasian
Reading
Workshop plans

This production is supported by the

Dorset Foundation
Chalk Circle poster photo © Getty Images,
designed by Charlotte Wilkinson

Further production details: This workpack is published by Director NT Education Worksheet written by
nationaltheatre.org.uk and copyright The Royal Sean Holmes National Theatre Elizabeth Freestone,
National Theatre Board South Bank Associate Director on The
Reg. No. 1247285 London SE1 9PX Caucasian Chalk Circle

Registered Charity No. T 020 7452 3388

Editor
224223 F 020 7452 3380 Emma Gosden
E educationenquiries@
Views expressed in this Design
nationaltheatre.org.uk
workpack are not necessarily Patrick Eley
those of the National Theatre Lisa Johnson
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht THE NT EDUCATION MOBILE TOUR 2007
in a version by Frank McGuinness
Directed by Sean Holmes in collaboration with 9-13 Jan CANTERBURY Gulbenkian Theatre
Filter Theatre Company 16-20 Jan BRIGHTON Corn Exchange
23-27 Jan NORWICH Playhouse
A servant girl sacrifices everything to protect a
30 Jan-3 Feb DUNDEE Rep Theatre
child abandoned in the heat of civil war. Order
6-10 Feb LIVERPOOL Everyman
restored, she is made to confront the boy’s
13-14 Feb ABERYSTWYTH Arts Centre
biological mother in a legal contest over who
16-17 Feb BRECON Theatr Brycheiniog
deserves to keep him. The judge calls on an
20-24 Feb WARWICK Arts Centre
ancient tradition – the chalk circle – to resolve
27 Feb-3 Mar BRISTOL Old Vic
the dispute. Who wins?
7 Mar-14 Apr LONDON National Theatre
A morality masterpiece, The Caucasian Chalk
Circle powerfully demonstrates Brecht’s
pioneering theatrical techniques.

This version of The Caucasian Chalk Circle was The purpose of this pack is to explore
first performed at the National Theatre in 1997. the working methodology employed by
It was staged in the round in the Olivier and was Sean Holmes, the director, in the rehearsal
a collaboration with Complicite, a company room and give an insight into the making
celebrated for their physical approach to of this production. The workpack will look
storytelling. practically at Filter’s inventive approach
to making theatre as well as examining
Ten years on, the same version appears in a Brecht’s writing and his position in
different auditorium at the National, in contemporary theatre.
collaboration with another pioneering theatre
company, whose innovative, playful style
matches the anarchy and imagination of the
writing. Filter Theatre are renowned for their
unique fusion of music, sound and video
imagery. “On the whole, theatre has not been
brought up to modern technological standards”
said Brecht. This bold collaboration aims to do
just that.

Singer LEO CHADBURN

Adjutant OLIVER DIMSDALE
Governor JOHN LLOYD FILLINGHAM
Governor’s Wife THUSITHA JAYASUNDERA
Simon FERDY ROBERTS
Nanny GEMMA SAUNDERS
The Fat Prince MO SESAY
Azdak NICOLAS TENNANT
Grusha CATH WHITEFIELD

Director SEAN HOLMES

Designer ANTHONY LAMBLE
Lighting Designer PAULE CONSTABLE
Video Designer LORNA HEAVEY
Music/Sound Designers
CHRIS BRANCH,
TOM HAINES,
LEO CHADBURN
Music Consultant TIM PHILLIPS
Associate Director ELIZABETH FREESTONE
Producer DAWN INGLESON

national theatre education workpack 2

 Synopsis
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is divided into a
prologue and five acts.
PROLOGUE
Georgia, the end of the Second World War.
Amidst the ruins of a badly shelled Caucasian
village two opposing sides meet to discuss the
future of a valley. One group, the Rosa
Luxemburg kolchos, are arable farmers who
remained in the valley during the war and
successfully defended the village from the
Nazis. The other group, the Galinsk kolchos,
are goat-herders and were moved on during the
fighting to graze their animals elsewhere. Now
they have returned and the two sides must
decide who is to get the land. An agronomist
reveals irrigation plans which will mean a
substantial increase in crop production.
Reluctantly the Galinsk kolchos agree. A
famous Singer is called upon to tell a story to
seal the contract.
THE MIGHTY CHILD
Georgia, the long ago. The country, led by the
Grand Duke, is fighting a disastrous foreign war
with Persia. In the small town of Nukha all
seems calm. A Governor, Georgi Abashvili, and
his wife, Natella, leave their palace to go to
church on Easter Sunday. Their only son and
heir, Michael, is shown to the crowds for the
rehearsal pictures first time. But a military coup led by the princes,
photo Catherine Ashmore who are unhappy at the way the war is being
conducted, is underway. They want to oust the
Grand Duke and his governors and the Fat
Prince oversees the capture and beheading of
Governor Georgi. Riots break out in the town
and the palace is thrown into chaos. As
servants try and pack for the Governor’s Wife to
escape, Simon, a palace guard, and Grusha, a
servant, get engaged. The Governor’s Wife,
hurrying as the fighting gets worse, flees,
leaving her child Michael behind. The Fat
Prince orders his troops, the Ironshirts, to
search for the child, offering 1000 piastres as a
reward. After a night of soul-searching, Grusha
steals away with Michael.
THE FLIGHT TO THE NORTHERN
MOUNTAINS
Grusha’s brother, Lavrenti, lives in the Northern
Mountains and she decides to go to him for
safety until the war is over. She buys milk for
Michael from a man whose farm has been
ransacked by soldiers. She tries to pretend she
is an aristocrat in order to smuggle Michael
onto a coach heading into safety but is found
out. She attempts to leave Michael with a
peasant couple whose farm is as yet untouched
by violence but two Ironshirts are on her trail.
She overcomes one of them before escaping
with Michael. They reach the Jungu Tau glacier,
where there is a bridge she must cross. But the
bridge is rotten and merchants try to persuade
her not to risk it. As the Ironshirts get closer, she
takes the chance, steps onto the swaying
bridge and makes it safely to the other side.
Finally, she accepts Michael as her own child.
IN THE NORTHERN MOUNTAINS
Expecting comfort and safety after her
extraordinary journey, Grusha gets neither from
her brother. He and his pious wife, Aniko, are
horrified by the thought of having a single
mother in the house and take her in reluctantly,
providing she works and keeps out of sight.
Grusha spends a bleak winter in the scullery
watching Michael grow up. When the snow
begins to melt, and spring arrives, Lavrenti tells
her she can’t stay any longer. He has arranged
for her to marry a dying man so that she can
become a widow, giving her some degree of
legitimacy. For the sake of getting Michael an
official document she agrees. But after the
wedding the groom makes a miraculous
recovery. He had been dodging conscription by
national theatre education workpack 3
Synopsis
pretending to be ill and Grusha is now forced life that Easter Sunday. Azdak presides over a
into an unhappy existence. Time passes, trial in which he must judge who gets Michael –
Michael grows up and she reluctantly becomes Grusha, who has cared for him and put herself
a wife. The war ends. Simon returns and comes through hell for him; or his natural mother,
to find Grusha in the mountains. As she begins Natella, who abandoned him. Hearing both
to explain to him what has happened, Ironshirts arguments, Azdak is unable to decide. He
seize Michael. Hearing Grusha shout “He’s adjourns the court to hear the case of an old
mine, he’s mine!” after them, Simon is couple who want a divorce. He tells them he’ll
devastated at her betrayal. think about it. Returning to Michael’s case,
Azdak invokes the ancient wisdom of the Chalk
Circle: Michael is placed in the centre of a circle
THE STORY OF THE JUDGE and whoever is strong enough to pull him out
Rewind to the day of the coup, the day Grusha must be the right mother. Grusha won’t pull,
took the child. The village clerk, Azdak, has she cannot hurt him. Azdak orders the women
been poaching in the woods and come across to repeat the trial. Grusha again cannot pull.
someone he believes to be a refugee. He Azdak judges that she must be the right mother.
shelters him for the night only discovering after Natella faints. Simon and Grusha thank Azdak,
the man has gone that it was the Grand Duke who signs the divorce papers – not the divorce
himself, who escaped the clutches of the of the old couple but Grusha’s divorce from the
rebellious princes. Rather than risk being found man she married in the mountains. Everyone
out Azdak hands himself in, expecting to be dances. Azdak disappears. The Singer explains
punished. When he gets to the courtroom he that the child has been given to the mother who
sees the hanging bodies of authority figures will be best for it – and, reminding us of the
and mistakenly interprets the revolution as a prologue, that the land should go to whoever is
people’s revolt. His shouts of joy are interrupted right for it.
by a soldier who tells him he’s got it all wrong:
it’s not a people’s revolution but a military coup.
An uprising by the rebellious carpet weavers
resulted in all the hangings and the soldiers
were brought in to suppress them. Azdak is
nearly hanged by soldiers. The Fat Prince
brings his nephew to be ratified as the new
judge (the old judge had been killed by the
carpet weavers) but the soldiers, after testing
the nephew in a mock trial in which Azdak
accuses the Fat Prince of profiting from the
Persian war, make Azdak judge instead. Over
two years Azdak, with his trusty assistant
Shauva, travels the country turning justice on
its head, accusing a rape victim of being a
rapist herself, sympathising with an old woman
clearly guilty of theft, doling out law as he sees
fit. Finally the Grand Duke comes back, the Fat
Prince is killed and Natella Abashvilli returns
from exile. Frightened that his behaviour over
the last couple of years will land him in trouble
now that order is restored, Azdak promises to
help Natella get her son back.

THE CHALK CIRCLE

Azdak is declared an enemy of the new regime
and is stripped of his judge’s robes. He is about
to be hanged when a messenger arrives
announcing the Grand Duke would like Azdak
to remain as judge, as a thank you for saving his

national theatre education workpack 4


Some of the technology used
in rehearsal and performance
photo Ed Dimsdale
The Filter process
Filter’s ideology is inclusive and democratic:
everyone in the room is asked to contribute
their skills and imagination. Filter was founded
on the belief that music and sound are an
integral part of theatre and should be included
in the process from day one. Usually in
theatre, the actors rehearse for four or five
weeks and then music and sound are added
during the technical rehearsals on stage.
With Filter, the musicians and sound designers
are in rehearsal all the time, devising the
production alongside the actors. For this
collaboration, video has been added into the
mix. The other founding vision of the company
is that the theatre-making process should be
exposed. If someone is making a sound
effect of footsteps crunching on snow, then
the audience should see how it is being done.
The idea is that this doesn’t diminish the
audience’s belief in the world on stage but
creates a playful environment which adds to the
audience’s enjoyment. With just eight actors
playing around 90 characters in a five-act play,
the mountain in front of the team is enormous.
We began our rehearsals with two weeks at the
National Theatre’s Studio, in a large room
packed with a range of “stuff you can make
theatre with” – costumes, video cameras,
props, a range of technology, musical
instruments, furniture – as well as all of us,
actors, directors, designers, composers.
We started with an exercise that became
the foundation for our way of working over the
next two weeks: we split into small groups.
One group could use video, another sound,
another nothing, another just chairs – the rules
changed as we went along but the basic
principle remained. Each group had 15 minutes
to come up with a way, or several ways, of, for
example, crossing the bridge or representing
the Governor’s severed head.
The company shared solutions, taking the
essence of one and merging it with another,
continually making and remoulding ideas. We
explored answers to difficult questions – how
do we show the baby without bringing a baby
onstage? How do we make a crowd with eight
people? Over the course of a few days, more
and more material was gathered and ideas
offered – from using a spy camera for the
baby’s point-of-view to using a bin we found in
the rehearsal room to make a bridge-creaking
noise; from discovering ways of denoting
character through props; to evolving a
language which allows every actor to be a
character in every scene.
What the company were trying to do was create
an atmosphere that encourages imagination, to
stop censoring, to simply try everything, from
the obvious to the stupid, to find out how little
or how much we need to tell this story. When
we left the Studio to move to a rehearsal room
at the National, where we spent our remaining
three weeks, we had as many questions as
answers but we had made crucial
breakthroughs: developed a rehearsal
language and shared references; learnt that the
play is written with absolute economy of
storytelling; realised that the behaviour of all of
the characters is the behaviour of those in
extremis; begun to appreciate the jagged
nature of the writing (the way absurd humour
and terrible horror can legitimately co-exist in
the same moment); discovered the wonderful
eclecticism in the writing, and begun to unearth
the complex morality in the play. “Terrible is the
temptation to do good” says the Singer – doing
something good doesn’t necessarily bring
good to yourself. Plus we built up a bank of
ideas and theatrical techniques that can be
applied and developed during rehearsals. As
we left the Studio, Sean [director] says “I think
we’ve learnt how to rehearse this play”.
national theatre education workpack 5
 Production history
Brecht wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle, while
he was in exile in America. In 1948 it had its
premiere at Carleton College, Northfield,
Minnesota in a translation by Eric and Maja
Bentley. Eric Bentley went on to become a
major Brecht scholar.
never really forgave him.”
The BBC filmed The Caucasian Chalk Circle in
1973. Leo McKern played Azdak, Sara
Kestelman played Grusha and Patrick Magee
The Singer.

The Berliner Ensemble performed the play in The Rustaveli theatre company from Georgia
1954 with music by Paul Dessau, set by Karl toured a famous production in 1975, directed
von Appen and with Ernst Busch as Azdak and by Robert Sturua. The company did not
the Singer, Angelika Hurwicz as Grusha, and perform the prologue. They decided it was
Helene Weigel, Brecht’s wife, as the Governor’s unwise to do so given the situation in Soviet
Wife. The company used a revolve and 40 Georgia at the time.
actors. They rehearsed for nine months. Two
weeks after Brecht’s death in 1956 the In 1997, Complicite undertook a major
production toured to London and Paris. It was a reappraisal of the play, when the National’s
sensation. Olivier was turned into a theatre-in-the-round
for a season. Simon McBurney directed and
The English-language premiere took place at played Azdak and Juliet Stevenson was
the Aldwych Theatre in London in March 1962. Grusha.
It was an RSC production adapted by John
Holmstrom and directed by William Gaskill. The highly-acclaimed Swiss Théâtre de Vidy
Michael Flanders played the Singer. Ralph Lausanne performed the play in a new
Richardson turned down Peter Hall’s request adaptation by Benno Besson at the home of the
[Peter Hall was then Artistic Director of the Berliner Ensemble in 2002.
RSC] to be in it: “I am sorry that I cannot see
what you perceive in the Brecht play – it is no
doubt blindness in me.” Hugh Griffith took the
part. Peter Gill (who now regularly directs
productions for the National Theatre) played
Bizergan Kazbecki. Peter Hall ended up taking
over directing responsibilities from Gaskill. “I
used a lot of improvisation” wrote Gaskill in his
Juliet Stevenson as
diaries, A Sense of Direction, “and the actors
Grusha in the 1997
Complicite production of panicked, but I was devastated when he said
The Caucasian Chalk Circle he’d [Hall] have to take over. It wasn’t as though
photo ??? he radically rethought it. I was very bitter. I

national theatre education workpack 6

 Interview with Frank McGuinness, adapter
Frank McGuinness was interviewed by
Associate Director, Elizabeth Freestone,
early in rehearsals for The Caucasian Chalk
Circle
How do you go about adapting a play?
I get a detailed, scholarly literal translation. It
can read strangely if necessary: it should have
no claims for literary style, it’s just for me to use
as my building blocks. The translation should
be by a reputable scholar with an ear for
language. The translation should be full and
uncut. I don’t look at other versions.
Do you have an idea of what you want to
bring to the play before you start?
I usually have a working knowledge of the play
and its production history before I start but
I never pre-judge or pre-plan what I’m going
to do. I will do the text in its entirety even if
ultimately some bits are cut. This is because
I could come across something that seems
nothing initially but as I get to know the play
more I might realise it is a crucial detail.
What is your rewriting process?
Writing and rewriting an adaptation is all about
learning the secrets of another writer. The more
you work the more clearly you can interpret the
codes. But even with the most demanding and
rewarding play you get to a point where you
have to leave it aside.
Frank McGuinness
photo: Ed Dimsdale
Is The Caucasian Chalk Circle the first
Brecht play you have adapted?
No, I did The Threepenny Opera at the Gate in
Dublin, which Marianne Faithfull appeared in.
And how does Chalk Circle compare?
Chalk Circle is a more ambitious play, better
written as a theatre piece although the songs
in The Threepenny Opera are wonderful. I
came out of working on Chalk Circle with a
great respect for Brecht as a writer. But it was
doing The Threepenny Opera that I realised
what a fine and accomplished poet he is.
The simplicity in his writing is the product of
an extraordinary poetic intelligence. The easy
rhymes, the obvious repetition – all of them
are meant, deliberate. He is incredibly
knowledgeable in his use of metre and imagery.
Do you worry about grammatical differences
between the German and the English? I’m
thinking in particular of the formality
between Simon and Grusha which is
perhaps easier to understand in German.
No, I see it as a fabulous device, liberating for
both the writer and the actors because it
allows enormous accuracy of feeling to be
communicated without linguistic excess. That’s
the key to his theatre – he’s always exact.
How did you approach the songs?
The songs are an absolutely integral part of the
play. I didn’t do them separately – there is no
break in my mind between the prose and the
poetry. By that I mean there’s a prosaic quality
to the poetry and a poetic quality to the prose
that is wonderful to work on. Brecht loves
language – he puts such store on the pleasure
of the human ear.
What’s your feeling about the role of the
Singer and the musicians?
The play was written at the end of the war.
There’s an unquenchable joy at the heart of it
and much of that is found in the music. There’s
a sense of relief in the play – something mighty
has been endured, something terrible defeated.
There’s a belief in happiness in the play: the
ending is in fact a tentative beginning.
What do you think Brecht intended the
audience to take from this play?
He wanted people to enjoy it and not be
ashamed of enjoying it. It is an extraordinary
vision of the human struggle – he had more
hope for the species than he preached. The
flicker of sweetness in the play is there to
national theatre education workpack 7
Frank McGuinness
temper his most stringent pills. His humour and
hope saved him from the severity of his own
politics.
How do you feel about the prologue? People
often find it difficult and many productions
cut it.
The prologue is the key to the play. Chalk Circle
is not a folk tale. Without the prologue you miss
a whole dimension. In fact, it is also a great
theatrical in-joke – it’s a marvellously subtle
piece of Chekhovian writing. I really think
Brecht is parodying Chekhov – the prologue is
full of nuances and tiny character revelations.
It’s one of the best literary jokes but with an
absolutely steel sense of purpose – the Singer’s
“No” at the end of the prologue is Brecht siding
with the poets. That’s not sentimentality; it’s a
mark of how tough he is. It’s him saying that the
House Un-American Activities didn’t grind him
down [Brecht appeared before the Committee
in 1946, as he was writing The Caucasian Chalk
Circle] and that he certainly wouldn’t let the
bastards on the other side grind him down
either.
[It is interesting to see what Brecht wrote about
the prologue: “The questions posed by the
parable must be seen to derive from the
necessities of reality. Without the prologue it is
not evident why the play has not remained ‘The
Chinese Chalk Circle’ ”]
This version was performed in 1997 by
Complicite. How are you finding it stands up
nearly ten years later?
I’m really pleased by how it is standing up. I did
a lot of work on it in 1997, streamlining the
narrative, constantly refining it, and the payoff
is that it is in robust shape today. There’s
nothing missing, nothing overwritten. I never
thought it would be done again. I believe
adaptations have a life span, usually about 20
years or so. Straight translations can last for
much longer but adaptations are deliberately of
their moment and become period pieces much
quicker than the original. Adaptations are about
deciphering secrets and some we get, some we
don’t. Great plays – and there are no great plays
other than strange plays and Chalk Circle is
certainly a strange play – can last forever. And
I’m thrilled to see how it will work in the
Cottesloe.
Did you study Brecht’s theories when you
were working on the play?
When I started out I thought his theories were
smug and overwritten and not helpful to
someone trying to examine him as a writer. Only
when I learnt how he got his hands dirty in his
theatre did I realise how much he knew. It’s his
practical work that makes him great, not his
theories. I see the theories now with more
respect but still believe his politics were often
ludicrous. Today, the theory often weighs down
the plays. Do the plays work or not? That’s all
that matters. Brecht used his theories as a form
of censorship by saying there’s only one way to
do his plays. He, in effect, imposed a single
reading but his plays are better than that. He
was reductive of his own work – he’s his own
best champion and his own worst enemy!
Because of that contradiction we should never
forget what a great comic he is, even when at
his most didactic. And as for expecting the
audience not to feel emotion? Look at the end
of Mother Courage. He puts a deaf girl on
stage, who bangs a drum to save children from
dying and has her shot, leaving her mother
childless. But the audience shouldn’t cry.
Really?!
Brecht wrote this play in exile [in America].
How do you think that affected his writing?
He experienced poverty and homelessness
and had to write without having a theatre, which
is incredibly hard. And he loved Germany
deeply so having to leave it must have been
terrible. Becoming a refugee gave him a
tremendous sympathy with the dispossessed
which burns through Chalk Circle.
Finally, we’re still in the early days of
rehearsal, but how do you feel about what
you’ve seen so far?
It is already clear from rehearsals that this will
be a radical reworking of the play. From the way
this production is moving, a new theatrical
language will need to be evolved in rehearsal
and that process is well underway. Music will be
a fiercely important character in this show. It
will be an eye-opener to how you can do
Brecht.
national theatre education workpack 8
 Language
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a linguistically
rich play with its extraordinary mixture of
songs, idiosyncratic dialogue and wonderful
poetry. It has been interesting for us to identify
what kind of language Brecht uses at certain
moments and to question why he makes those
choices. He switches fluently between earthy
jokes and parable, between peasant songs and
exquisite rhyme. He differentiates character
through strong choices in their speech patterns
– for example, Simon’s formality, the Grand
Duke’s clipped tones, the Governor’s Wife’s
hyperbole. The actors’ interpretations of these
– and the musicians’ interpretations of the
different kinds of songs – are crucial to the
colour and feel of our production.
Riddles
There’s a riddle duel between Azdak and Simon
in Act 5, a dazzling display of verbal dexterity
that ends with Simon being fined 10 piastres for
contempt of court:
SIMON: ‘It’s a lovely day, said the angler to the
worm, shall we go fishing?’
AZDAK: ‘I’m my own master, said the serving
boy, and he cut his own foot off.’
The duel is meaningless and meaningful, funny
and pointed at the same time. On the one hand
it is an absurd exchange borne simply of
Simon’s frustration and Azdak’s willingness to
take up the challenge. On the other hand it is a
real debate about human behaviour. It’s also a
lovely moment for the audience – we have
become used to Simon’s very particular way of
Nicolas Tennant (Azdak) speaking and here Brecht doesn’t deny us the
and Ferdy Roberts (Simon) theatrical enjoyment of seeing him engage with
photo: Edward Dimsdale the great talker of the play, Azdak.
Poetry
As Simon prepares to leave for the war, Grusha
bursts into a deeply moving speech promising
to be faithful.
GRUSHA:
And when you do come back from battle
No boots will stand before my door
No head will touch my pillow
No lips will touch mine with a kiss.
When you walk through my door
You will whisper sweet and low
Everything is now as it once was.
The scene up until this point has been a cool,
practical engagement scene. Simon and
Grusha’s union is built on financial (“I earn 10
piastres a month”), physical (“A pain beneath
the right shoulder but nothing more”) and
character (“Is the lady inclined to impatience?”)
grounds. The move into poetry, like
Shakespeare jumping from prose into a
soliloquy, makes their union dignified and
emotionally complete.
Songs
Sosso Robakidse, the song Grusha sings to
keep up her spirits as she walks into the
Northern Mountains, is a rousing folk number.
Brecht wrote extensive notes on how the play
should be interpreted theatrically. Here’s what
he wrote about the music:
“Aside from certain songs which take personal
expression [presumably Brecht is thinking here
of moments such as ‘Hear what she thought
but did not say’ in Act 4] the storyteller’s music
need only display a cold beauty... The
musical basis of the five acts needs to be
clearly varied. The opening song of Act 1
should have something barbaric about it, and
the underlying rhythm be a preparation and an
accompaniment for the entry of the governor’s
family... For Act 2 (‘The Flight Into The Northern
Mountains’) the theatre calls for the thrustful
music to hold this extremely epic act together;
none the less it must be thin and delicate... Act
3 has the melting snow music (poetical) and, for
its main scene, funeral and wedding music in
contrast with each other... The last act
demands a good dance at the end.”
national theatre education workpack 9
Language
Leo Chadburn (The Singer and co-composer)
and Chris Branch (Music) describe their
process for this production of The Caucasian
Chalk Circle:
Leo Chadburn: What Brecht says is very
musical and instinctive: “thin and thrustful”, for
example. It’s about feel, not defining genre. He
doesn’t say “this should be a jazz number” or
“this one’s a country song”. We worked on the
music by discovering texture, rhythm and
atmosphere rather than setting a particular
genre for a particular song.
Chris Branch: Moving between genres is one
of the tools we’ve used to create contrast in the
music. As the Singer explains in the Prologue,
“it came from very long ago, it started out first
with the Chinese, we’ve changed it as we went
along into another version.” We have drawn on
the genre that we feel tells the story in the most
economical and dynamic way from moment to
moment. For example, taking material from an
old Cornish folk tune sung by Grusha, and
putting it next to a Laurie Anderson-like song
from the Singer, generates a striking change in
feel that shifts the place and perspective.
Amongst others, Hindemith, Weill, Ian Dury,
The Specials, Steve Reich and Danny Elfman,
have all come up in rehearsal and make an
appearance in the show in some shape or form.
These are just some of the issues relating to
language that we’ve discussed in rehearsal.
Translation
It has been interesting to compare the literal
translation with other adaptations to help us
get as close as possible to discovering what
Brecht is after, and what Frank McGuinness is
after in our version. James and Tania Stern’s
translation of The Caucasian Chalk Circle (with
some lyrics by WH Auden) is the most readily
available. It is comprehensive, complete and
faithful to the German. Frank McGuinness’
version is published by Methuen.
Take, for example, what the Singer says to the
Governor as he is led away to be executed in
‘The Mighty Child’...
Here’s the literal:
For always, great lord! Deign to walk upright.
Out of your palace follow you the eyes of
many enemies!
You need no architects more, it is enough for
you a carpenter.
You will move into no new palace, but into a
little hole in the ground.
Look about you one more time, blind man!
THE PRISONER LOOKS ABOUT HIM
Do you like what you had? Between Easter
mass and meal
You are going there from where no one returns
HE IS LED OFF.
Here’s the Stern version:
Walk, Your Highness, walk even now with
head up.
From your palace the eyes of many foes
follow you!
You no longer need an architect, a carpenter
will do.
You will not move into a new palace, but into
a little hole in the ground.
Just look about you once more, you blind
man!
Does all you once possessed still please you?
Between the Easter mass and the banquet
You are walking to the place from which no
one returns.
And here’s McGuinness’ version:
Well, great man, keep your head up high.
Your enemies followed you with their many
eyes.
No more mighty builders for you,
Now a poor carpenter will have to do.
Forget all about a fine new mansion.
A hole in the ground is your destination.
Take one last look about you, blind man,
Do you see where you stood and where you
now stand?
Between Easter Mass and Easter feed
You’ll turn into dust and rock and seed.
Language
It’s clear that Brecht is after a strong focus on
the Governor. He wants the audience to get a
good look as it’s the last time we’ll see him. The
Singer talks directly to the Governor, asking him
the questions Brecht wants the audience to be
thinking. The Sterns’ version is more active
than the literal, changing “going” into “walking”
in the last line, for example, creating a picture of
the Governor’s final moments. Frank’s version
also adds a rougher quality to the Singer’s
treatment of the Governor. The introduction of
rhyme makes the speech clipped and light as
well as definite and brutal. The final line is
loaded with the imagery of “ashes to ashes,
dust to dust” and gives the audience a clear
picture of this man’s disappearance into
history. This mixture of humour and lyricism is
typical of Frank’s version of the play.
Brecht wrote that The Caucasian Chalk Circle
“is partly conditioned by a revulsion against the
commercialized dramaturgy of Broadway” He
deliberately made it a mish-mash of styles, with
eclectic storytelling and a risky, ambitious
structure.

national theatre education workpack 11

 Geography: epic restlessness
The prologue is set in a mountain village
somewhere in the Caucasus Mountains in
Georgia. The story the Singer tells is set in
Georgia too, but the places mentioned are
actually a mixture of towns in Georgia and
Azerbaijan. We had a map on our rehearsal
room wall.
T’bilisi is the capital of Georgia, the place where
the Fat Prince met with all the other princes to
plot the overthrow of the Grand Duke.
Kutsk, where Simon is from, is a town not far
west of there – this is probably the town of
K’ut’aisi.
Nukha, where the Governor’s palace is and
where Simon and Grusha both live and work, is
actually in Azerbaijan, underneath the
Caucasus Mountains. In the 1960s, Nukha was
renamed Sheki (or Shaki).
K’ut’aisi, T’bilisi and Saki
map source: University of
Texas Libraries, University
of Texas, Austin
www.lib.utexas.edu/
The Caucasus Mountains are part of a huge
range that runs through Georgia, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, and southwest Russia and are
considered a boundary between Europe and
Asia. The range extends for about 750 miles
from the Caspian Sea in the west to the Black
Sea in the east. The northern range
(presumably the Northern Mountains of the
play) has a number of peaks higher than 15,000
ft. Mount Elbrus, found in the Caucasus, is the
highest peak in Europe, standing at 18,500 ft.
Brecht writes about Grusha following the
Grusinian Highway up to the mountains. In the
19th century the Russians built “the Georgian
Military Road” through the Caucasus, the only
way that vehicles could cross.
It is useful to work through the journeys many of
the characters take in the play and research the
distances and terrain. But, it doesn’t always
add up. Like Shakespeare, Brecht is cavalier in
his interest in geographical detail. It’s the
character’s situation, not the environmental
facts, that is his priority.
national theatre education workpack 12
Shakespeare
Brecht admired Shakespeare hugely: the scope
of his plays, the way they ranged from the
monarchical to the base, from royalty to
peasantry, the thrilling fluidity of the writing, the
scenes constantly shifting location. Above all
he appreciated their political coherence mixed
with real human detail.

There are many ways that Shakespeare’s

influence is felt in The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Here are some to think about:

• The play having the mood of Shakespeare:

broad knockabout comedy followed by terrible
violence
• The Singer as a narrator, like the Chorus in
Henry V
• Azdak as Toby Belch, or a “Shakespearean
wise man playing the fool”
• A woman fleeing in disguise from a court in
crisis like Rosalind in As You Like It
• Journeying and travel – like the panoramic
time and place jumps of the Histories
• Villainous rulers – could you play The Fat
Prince like Richard III?
• A moral test like Measure for Measure
• The use of song as in Twelfth Night
• The reconciliation at the end and ending with
a dance
• The language moving between the rough and
the beautiful in the same way Shakespeare
uses prose and poetry

Brecht also had a collective of performers in

mind when writing his plays, often writing for a
specific actor, and later, for a specific space.
With The Caucasian Chalk Circle, he wrote the
part of Azdak specifically for his friend Oscar
Homolka, a comic genius. Compare this to
Shakespeare writing for Will Kemp, the clown.
On a biographical note, Brecht had a son by
Ruth Berlau, called Michael, who died very
young in September 1944 when Brecht was
writing The Caucasian Chalk Circle. The death
of Shakespeare’s son Hamnet is obviously
reflected in his greatest play.

Brecht was also aware of the similarities in

working methodology. Here’s Brecht’s
contribution to the ongoing debate of who
wrote Shakespeare’s plays:
“[I believe] a small collective produced
Shakespeare’s plays. I recognize the working
methods of a collective.”

national theatre education workpack 13

Sources
Brecht was accused of plagiarism throughout
his career and of not properly acknowledging
his (mostly female) co-writers.
FREDERIC EWEN:
“His powers of absorption were unlimited.
What he absorbed he used. Later he would be
charged with plagiarism – an accusation he
would admit and dismiss with his usual sang-
froid. Whether it was from the present or the
past, he could take generously.”
RONALD HAYMAN:
“Brecht gave a great deal and took a great deal.
Skillful at manipulating people, he was ruthless
both with women and with men who were
younger or weaker than he was. He felt entitled
to take, not because of what he gave, but
because his needs were so intense and
because he knew he could get away with it.”
Like many great writers (his hero Shakespeare
included), Brecht was magpie-like in his ability
to steal from all kinds of sources – existing
plays, ancient fables, historical fact, fairytales,
the bible. He had a discerning eye and ear for a
good story. Perhaps his greatest skill was as a
play-shaper, moulding both original and found
material into a new dimension and adding his
own theatrical flair.
He originally wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle,
and the character of Grusha, as a vehicle for
Luise Rainer, an Oscar-winning actress. He met
her in October 1943 whilst in exile in America
and asked her what she wanted to play on
Broadway. She thought of The Chalk Circle,
originally a 14th-century Chinese play by Li
Hsing-Dao that Klabund had adapted. It had
been a hit for Elisabeth Bergner in Berlin in
1924. Brecht was a friend of Klabund’s and
knew the play well.
In fact he was fascinated with the chalk circle
judgement throughout his career. One of his
earliest plays, written in 1932, was Man Is Man,
a parody of the biblical Solomon story. In 1940,
Brecht developed the themes into a short story
called The Augsburg Chalk Circle. Augsburg
was where he grew up.
After his discussion with Luise Rainer, he was
commissioned by an American producer and
started his version in April 1944. The first draft
was completed in June. But he fell out with
Luise Rainer and the project was shelved.
Instead he gave it to friends who performed it in
student productions. Brecht was fascinated
with the bible all his life, and had a dabbling
interest in all things oriental; The Caucasian
Chalk Circle perfectly matched both
obsessions.
The story of the original Chinese play The
Chalk Circle
[This is a potted version of a longer tale]
Mrs Zhang has been supported financially all
her life by her daughter Haitang, who worked as
a prostitute. Her son, Zhanglin, resents this.
Haitang persuades her mother to let her marry
Lord Ma, who gives Mrs Zhang a hundred
ounces of silver. But Haitang isn’t Lord Ma’s
first wife. The first Mrs Ma is secretly in love
with the clerk of the court, Zhao, who gives her
poison to murder her husband. Impoverished
Zhanglin begs his sister Haitang for help; she
says she has only her clothes and jewels, but
they technically belong to Mrs Ma, who hands
them to Zhanglin as her own gift. Then Mrs Ma
tells her husband that Haitang gave the things
to her lover, and she puts poison in the soup
that Haitang hands to Lord Ma, who dies from
it. Haitang has a son but Mrs Ma claims the son
is hers (which will mean she gets the estate),
accuses Haitang of murdering her husband,
and gets Zhao to bribe witnesses to say that
she is the boy's mother. The governor,
Zhengzhou, is a very corrupt judge and lets his
clerk Zhao question Haitang. He exposes her
life as a prostitute and accuses her of killing her
husband and stealing from Mrs Ma. Some
midwives have been bribed and testify falsely
that Mrs Ma is the mother of the boy. Haitang is
questioned and tortured until she makes a false
confession. Two constables are taking Haitang
to prison in Gaifengfu and stop at a tavern.
They have been paid by Zhao to kill her; but her
brother Zhanglin finds them and learns the
truth. He makes everyone go to the court of the
Gaifengfu governor, Bao Zheng. Afraid his
sister is too intimidated to testify, Zhanglin tries
to relate what happened; but he is disciplined
for contempt of court. Bao Zheng questions
Haitang and orders a circle drawn with chalk.
The two women are to pull on the arms of the
boy to see who is the real mother. Each time
Haitang lets go so that the boy's arms will not
be injured. Bao Zheng concludes that the cruel
Mrs Ma stole the child and gets Zhao to tell the
whole story, hoping he will not get the death
penalty for ruling against the powerful Mrs Ma.
The judge Zhengzhou is removed from office.
The perjuring midwives are to get eighty lashes
and the corrupt constables a hundred lashes.
national theatre education workpack 14
Sources
Mrs Ma and Zhao are to be executed in the
public square by Zhanglin, and Haitang is
reunited with her son.

The story of Solomon (1 Kings 3: 16-28)

One day, two prostitutes came and presented
themselves before King Solomon. One of them
said “Your majesty, this woman and I live in the
same house, and I gave birth to a baby boy at
home while she was there. Two days after my
child was born she also gave birth to a baby
boy. Only the two of us were present in the
house – no one else was present. Then one
night she accidentally rolled over on her baby
and smothered it. She got up during the night,
took my son from my side while I was asleep,
and carried him to her bed; then she put the
dead child in my bed. The next morning, when I
woke up and was going to feed my baby, I saw
that it was dead. I looked at it more closely and
saw that it was not my child.” But the other
woman said “No! The living one is mine and the
dead one is yours.” The first woman answered
“No! The dead child is yours and the living one
is mine.” And so they argued before the king.

Then King Solomon said “Each of you claims photo Ed Dimsdale

the living child is hers and that the dead one

belongs to the other one.” He sent for a sword
and when it was brought he said “Cut the living
child in two and give each woman half of it.”
The real mother, her heart full of love for her son
said to the king, “Please your Majesty, don’t kill
the child, give it to her.” But the other woman
said “Don’t give it to either of us, go ahead and
cut it in two.” Then Solomon said “Don’t kill the
child. Give it to the first woman – she is its real
mother.”

national theatre education workpack 15

Designing The Caucasian Chalk Circle
ANTHONY LAMBLE’S PREPARATION

Anthony Lamble’s sketches

towards the set design for
this production of
The Caucasian Chalk Circle

national theatre education workpack 16

Themes
There are many themes in the play – the totality
of war, the difficulty of choice, doing the right
thing, sacrificing what you most want. We
found it useful to identify one big theme for
each of the two stories in the play, Grusha and
Azdak, and then the theme that plays out when
they come together in the final act, and reminds
us of the Prologue.

The conflict between reason and instinct

“Terrible is the temptation to do good”
(The Singer talks to Grusha as she is about to
take the child in Act 1)

The definition of justice as determined by

the needs of life
“The law must be treated with complete
seriousness because it’s complete bollocks”
(Azdak talks to the soldiers in Act 4)

The debate between nature and nurture

“What there is shall go to those who are good
for it”
(The Singer addresses the audience in Act 5)

national theatre education workpack 17

Timeframes
The play exists for us in three timeframes – 2006
when it was written, when it is set, and when it It is easy for every play performed during times
is being performed. Each of these presents of international crisis to seem to be about war.
challenges to us in terms of both design This idea will be in the audience’s thinking when
decisions and of how we approach the play. they sit down in the auditorium. Again, the
director has a choice to make about whether
The long ago they simply acknowledge this and let the
This is fairytale land in the play – the names of audience see the world of the play through the
the characters are pantomime (The Fat Prince) prism of the contemporary world in whatever
and the action is often farcical (the fashion they choose, or whether s/he leads
simultaneous wedding/funeral). But at its heart them to certain conclusions and points certain
is a strong political current: we see glimpses of moments. There is a lot of violence in The
a country in chaos, hear bits of information Caucasian Chalk Circle, from the first line of the
about a foreign war, learn the odd piece of play which talks about Nazis, to the Governor’s
information about the economic situation – head being nailed on a wall. It’s interesting to us
“Three piastres for that dribble?” / “Milk’s gone that inside the story there are no guns: Brecht’s
up.” And we meet soldiers who make us laugh historicism means the weapons are spears and
one minute, and sick the next. The theatrical swords. But the prologue is inhabited by
challenge here is to make sure every character characters who have been fighting with tanks
has a real need and a human truth – the and bullets. And we’re watching it now with a
Governor’s Wife for example isn’t just a bitch, deep visual and sense memory of televised
she’s a woman who loves her son, but loves her violence from recent, ongoing conflicts in the
dresses more. Once this foundation was solid Middle East. Exploring using video in
we found we could then colour the characters portraying some of the violence in the play has
in deeper shades and expand their theatricality. thrown up fascinating questions of how we are
asking our audience to believe stage violence.
1945
When Brecht wrote the prologue he was writing
about his contemporary world. Our view of the
second world war, and of ex-Soviet Bloc
countries is completely different now, untinged
with the straightforward romanticism of a
Russian victory on the Eastern front.
Committing to the truth of the prologue is vital
for the play to have substance. Without it the
play is incomplete. The big decision for a
director is whether the actors come on playing
Soviet characters from 1945 who then perform
a play, or come on as actors in 2006, who then
play characters from 1945, who then perform a
play. It is incredibly important to us to fully
explore the politics of Brecht’s contemporary
world as well as his fictional world. The
resonances of post-war Europe form a
bass-note that hums throughout the play.

national theatre education workpack 18

Character: “it’s really two stories”
The Caucasian Chalk Circle is the only one of
Brecht’s plays to have two such rounded and
complex leading characters as Azdak and
Grusha. He found both hard to write. By making
Azdak amoral and unpredictable the issue of
good versus bad is satisfyingly complicated for
the audience. And by not making Grusha a
typical heroine – she is stubborn, even stupid
sometimes – Brecht allows us to grow in our
judgement of her as she grows into her role as a
mother. She becomes the isolated individual at
odds with the world in which she suffers. And
Azdak, whom we enjoy but are confused by, is
the man who will judge her behaviour. Without
his contradictions, the authority of the test of
the chalk circle would be weakened.
I knew I couldn’t just show that the law as it
exists has to be bent if justice is to be done, but
I realised I had to show how, with a truly
careless, ignorant, downright bad judge, things
can turn out all right for those who are actually
in need of justice. That is why Azdak has to
have those selfish, amoral, parasitic features,
and be the lowest and most decrepit of judges.
But I was still lacking some basic cause of a
social kind. And I found it in his disappointment
that the fall of the old rulers did not bring about
a new age, but just an age of new rulers, as a
consequence of which he begins to dispense
bourgeois justice, but in a degenerate,
subversive fashion, serving the absolute self-
interest of the judge.”

Brecht on Azdak:
“The problem of how to construct the figure of
Azdak held me up for two weeks until I realised
the social reason for his behaviour. At first all I
had was his disgraceful handling of the law, Below is a poem that Brecht wrote whilst in
under which the poor came off well. exile in America.

THE DEMOCRATIC JUDGE

In Los Angeles, before the judge who examines people
Trying to become citizens of the United States
Came an Italian restaurant keeper. After grave preparations
Hindered, though, by his ignorance of the new language
In the test he replied to the question:
What is the 8th Amendment? falteringly:
1492. Since the law demands that applicants know the language
He was refused. Returning
After three months spent on further studies
Yet hindered still by ignorance of the new language
He was confronted with the question: Who was
The victorious general in the Civil War? His answer was:
1492. (Given amiably, in a loud voice). Sent away again
And returning a third time, he answered
A third question: For how long a term are our Presidents elected?
Once more with: 1492. Now
The judge, who liked the man, realised he could not
Learn the new language, asked him
How he earned his living and was told: by hard work. And so
At his fourth appearance the judge gave him the questions:
When
Was America discovered? And on the strength of his correctly answering
1492, he was granted his citizenship.

An interesting exercise to do might be to stage the scene, improvising with Azdak as the
judge and Shauva as the Prosecutor.

national theatre education workpack 19

 Character: “it’s really two stories”
BRECHT ON GRUSHA: “Grusha should be
simple and look like Brueghel’s ‘Mad Meg’, a
beast of burden. She should be stubborn and
not rebellious, submissive and not good, long
suffering and not incorruptible.”

“She is a sucker. . . the more she does to save

the child’s life the more she endangers her
own.”

Cath Whitefield (who

plays Grusha)
annotated her script
during rehearsals

national theatre education workpack 20

Epic Theatre
EPIC THEATRE: POLITICS, PREACHING
AND PERSUASION
Brecht’s theory of theatre in four main points:
(From Raymond Williams: Drama from Ibsen to
Brecht)
1. The drama Brecht opposes involves the
spectator in the stage action and consumes his
capacity to act: in the drama he recommends
the spectator is an observer and his capacity to
act is awakened.
2. The drama he opposes presents experience,
drawing the spectator in until he is experiencing
the action with the characters: the drama he
recommends presents a view of the world in
DRAMATIC THEATRE
Plot
implications the spectator in a stage situation
wears down his capacity for action
provides him with sensations
Experience
the spectator is involved in something
Suggestion
instinctive feelings are preserved
the spectator is in the thick of it, shares the
experience
the human being is taken for granted
he is unalterable
eyes on the finish
one scene makes another
Growth
Linear development
evolutionary determinism
man as fixed point
thought determines being
Feeling
which the spectator confronts and is made to
study what he sees.
3. The drama he opposes makes one scene
exist for the sake of another, under the spell of
the action, as an evolutionary necessity. The
drama he recommends makes each scene exist
for itself, as a thing to be looked at, and
develops by sudden leaps.
4. The drama he opposes takes man, in the run
of the action, as known, given, inevitable. The
drama he recommends shows man producing
himself in the course of action and therefore
subject to criticism and change.
EPIC THEATRE
Narrative
Turns spectator into an observer
arouses his capacity for action
forces him to take decisions
picture of the world
he is made to face something
Argument
brought to the point of recognition
the spectator stands outside, studies
the human being is the object of the inquiry
he is alterable and able to alter
eyes on the course
each scene for itself
Montage
in curves
Jumps
man as process
social being determines thought
Reason
national theatre education workpack 21

Tom Haines, the ‘onstage’
musician in this production
photo Ed Dimsdale
Epic Theatre
What is basically being attacked is “the illusion
of reality” so, instead of subjective
involvement, there would be objective, critical
engagement. Brecht’s ideal was that “the
theatre will stop pretending to be the theatre.”
Filter’s founding philosophy is that nothing
should be hidden from the audience. The
company celebrates the technical skill involved
in making theatre by firstly exposing it to the
audience and secondly by making it part of the
action.
This might involve a musician being on stage all
of the time during the scene, very obviously
providing the sound effects the actors need.
Or it might mean that cueing a song to start
becomes a running joke in the play – Azdak’s
relationship with the music that accompanies
him for example. In the script Azdak has a
travelling menagerie wherever he goes to
dispense justice: an Ironman with a flag,
Shauva with his gallows. To this we added a
musician who could play on request whenever
the character requires it. Azdak’s chair was
therefore specially adapted to be able to take
drums and cymbals. The actor can use these as
a judge’s gavel to help the storytelling in the
scene, he can play with the musician as a
character in the scene, and when the script
calls for the next song, the musician is on stage
in the action rather than hidden far upstage.
We have eight actors in this production, and
one Singer. Another idea we have been
exploring is using sound to help with the
doubling problems thrown up by the play. “One
good actor is worth a whole battalion of extras”
said Brecht. When faced with how we show
crowds of petitioners for example, by echoing
voices or sampling recordings we can achieve
very simply with one effect what we’d never be
able to achieve with our small cast otherwise.
national theatre education workpack 22
 Timeline: Brecht’s life and work
10 February 1898 Brecht born Augsburg,
Germany.
1917 Enroles as a medical student at Munich
University.
1918 Military service as a medical orderly in
Augsburg.
1919 Participates in Karl Valentin’s political
cabaret; writes Baal.
Son Frank born to girlfriend Paula Banholzer
This was also the year that the great
revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg was murdered.
She is referred to in the play in the name of the
wine-making kolchos of the prologue.
Bertolt Brecht
photo © Corbis 1920 First trip to Berlin.
1921 Second trip to Berlin: observes the great
director Max Reinhardt in rehearsal.
1922 Drums In The Night in Munich and then
Berlin. Receives the Kleist Prize for young
writers. Marries Marianne Zoff.
1923 In The Jungle Of The Cities in Munich.
Baal in Leipzig. Daughter Hanne born to
Marianne Zoff.
1924 Directs adaptation of Edward The Second
in Munich. Moves to Berlin. Meets Helene
Weigel who gives birth to their son Stefan.
Meets Elizabeth Hauptmann, future
collaborator.
1925 Klabund’s The Chalk Circle in Berlin
directed by Max Reinhardt.
1926 Man Is Man in Darmstadt. Begins
studying Marx.
1927 Mahagonny song cycle, first collaboration
with Kurt Weill, starring Lotte Lenya. Divorces
Marianne Zoff.
1928 The Threepenny Opera opens at the Am
Schiffbauerdamn Theatre in Berlin, later the
home of the Berliner Ensemble.
1929 Writes first of his “learning plays”
(Lehrstücke). Marries Weigel.
Wall Street crash.
1930 The Rise And Fall Of The City Of
Mahagonny in Leipzig. He Who Said Yes, He
Who Said No in Berlin, directed by Brecht.
Helene Weigel gives birth to daughter Barbara.
1931 Man Is Man in Berlin starring Peter Lorre
directed by Brecht
1932 The Mother in Berlin. Meets Margarete
Steffin, future collaborator.
1933 28 February The burning of the Reichstag
– the following day Brecht flees with his family
to Zurich and then settles in Denmark. Meets
Ruth Berlau, future collaborator. Hitler
appointed Chancellor.
1934 Hitler becomes Fuhrer.
1935 Travels to Moscow and then on to New
York for The Mother. Nazis revoke Brecht’s
citizenship.
1936 Trip to London. The Roundheads. Spanish
civil war.
1937 Trip to Paris to see his Señora Carrara’s
Rifles. Production recorded by Ruth Berlau in
the first of what were to become the Berliner’s
famous ‘Model Books’.
1938 The Life of Galileo completed. Makes
notes for a version of Chalk Circle to be set in
Denmark in 11th century. Anschluss
(annexation of Austria into Greater Germany).
1939 Moves to Sweden, then Denmark. Mother
Courage in Zurich.
Second World War begins.
1940 Moves to Finland to avoid Nazi invasion.
Completes The Good Person of Szechwan and
The Trial of Lucullus. Writes Mr Puntilla And His
Man Matti with Hella Wuolijoki. Completes The
Augsburg Chalk Circle, a short story set in 30
Years War.
1941 Completes The Resistible Rise of Arturo
Ui, written with Margarete Steffin. Brecht
moves his family to California via Moscow
(where Steffin dies) and Vladivostok. In LA the
Brechts are classed as “enemy aliens”.
Bombing of Pearl Harbour by Japan, brings US
into war.
1942 Lives in America, meeting other exiles and
Hollywood stars including Charlie Chaplin and
Charles Laughton. Nazis advance into
Caucasus. Stalingrad.
1943 The Visions of Simone Machard and
Schweyk In The Second World War completed.
1944 Red Army drives Nazis out of the
Caucasus. Writes The Caucasian Chalk Circle.
Works with WH Auden on The Duchess Of
Malfi. D-Day: the start of Allied effort to liberate
Germany from the Nazis.
1945 English version of The Caucasian Chalk
Circle completed by James and Tania Stern
and WH Auden. English version of The Life of
Galileo completed by Brecht and Charles
Laughton. Second World War ends.
national theatre education workpack 23
Timeline: Brecht’s life and work
1947 The Life of Galileo in LA starring Charles
Laughton. Brecht appears before the House
Un-American Activities Committee. Next day
leaves for Europe.
1948 Antigone directed with Caspar Neher
starring Helene Weigel.
After 15 years in exile, moves to East Berlin.
Publishes the Little Organum For The Theatre.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle performed by Eric
Bentley’s students in Minnesota.
1949 Mother Courage with Weigel in title role
prompts invitation to form state-subsidised
Berliner Ensemble. Completes Days Of The
Commune.

1950 Becomes an Austrian citizen.

1951 Directs The Mother in Berlin. Completes

adaptation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus.

1953 Elected president of PEN, worldwide

association of writers.

1954 Berliner Ensemble takes up permanent

residence at the Am Schiffbauerdamn Theatre.
Mother Courage tours to Paris and is a
sensation, winning Best Play and Best
Production at the Théâtre des Nations festival.
Brecht becomes an adviser to the new East
German Ministry of Culture.

1954: First Half

No serious sickness, no serious enemies.
Enough work.
And I got my share of the new potatoes
The cucumbers, asparagus, strawberries.
I saw the lilac in Buckow, the market square in
Bruges
The canals of Amsterdam, the Halles in Paris.
I enjoyed the kindness of delightful A.T.
I read Voltaire's letters and Mao's essay on
contradiction.
I put on the Chalk Circle at the Berliner
Ensemble.

1955 West German production of The

Caucasian Chalk Circle omits prologue as
politically inopportune. Accepts Stalin prize in
Moscow.

1956 Brecht dies. Two weeks later Berliner

Ensemble visit Palace Theatre, London with
The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Mother
Courage.

national theatre education workpack 24

Quotes
“I have always needed
the spur of contradiction”
“In the contradiction
lies the hope”
BRECHT ON BEING A WRITER
“I am a playwright. I would actually like to have
been a cabinetmaker, but of course you don’t
earn enough doing that.”
BRECHT ON THEATRE
"Human beings go to the theatre in order to be
swept away, captivated, impressed, uplifted,
horrified, moved, kept in suspense, released,
diverted, set free, set going, transplanted from
their own time, and supplied with illusions. It is
not an art at all unless it does so."
“There is nothing so interesting on stage as a
man trying to get a knot out of his shoelaces.”
BRECHT ON EPIC THEATRE
“The epic theatre is chiefly interested in the
attitudes which people adopt towards one
another, wherever they are socio-historically
significant. It works out scenes where people
adopt attitudes of such a sort that the social
laws under which they are acting spring into
sight. The concern of the epic theatre is thus
eminently practical."
“Epic theatre can show that almost naturalistic
elements are within its range.”
BRECHT ON EMPATHY
“If in art an appeal is made to the emotions it
means reason has to be switched off.”
“With rigidly epic presentation an acceptable
empathy occurs.”
BRECHT ON ART
“Art is not a mirror with which to reflect reality,
but a hammer with which to shape it.”
“The lightest way of life is in the arts.”
BRECHT ON ACTORS
“Epic Theatre is an extremely artistic affair
hardly thinkable without artists of virtuosity,
imagination, humour and fellow-feeling.”
“An actor, even if he is stupid, can act clever
people.”
ACADEMICS ON BRECHT
ERIC BENTLEY “Back in the early twenties,
Brecht wasn’t getting much attention. ‘What
you need’ a friend told him ‘is a theory. To make
your stuff important.’ So Brecht went home and
got himself a theory, which is now known to
more people than the plays.”
ROBERT BRUSTEIN “Even at his most
scientifically objective, Brecht continues to
introduce a subjective note; even at his most
social and political, he remains an essentially
moral and religious poet.”
HERBERT IHERING (when Brecht was 24)
“Brecht is impregnated with the horror of this
age in his nerves, in his blood. . . Brecht
physically feels the chaos and putrid decay of
the times.”
RONALD HAYMAN “He had one gift in common
with Jesus: they both knew how to state a
complex truth about human behaviour in a
provocative story with the resonance of a
riddle.”
CHARLES LYONS “His plays are explorations
of the quality of a single human action – the
futile attempt of the human will to assert itself in
a free act.”
JOHN RUSSELL BROWN “The Berliner
Ensemble... was generously supported by the
state: Brecht had sixty actors and two hundred
and fifty staff members in all; production and
rehearsal time were virtually unlimited. Thus,
like Shakespeare and Molière in their time,
Brecht had his own private theatre to mount
productions of his own work.”
JOHN RUSSELL BROWN “Brecht was, on the
one hand, democratic, adaptable, and part of a
team, but on the other hand also a dominant,
charismatic, famous, and politically favored
leader who shaped productions according to
his own inclinations and theory, whatever
particular role he assigned himself on each
occasion. He added the role of the wise theatre
veteran, his Chinese-philosopher persona, to
the flamboyant and spoiled child-genius of the
past.”
HERBERT LUETHY “Never has Brecht been
able to indicate by even the simplest poetic
image or symbol what the world for which he is
agitating should really look like.”
national theatre education workpack 25
Quotes
THEATRE MAKERS ON BRECHT KENNETH TYNAN IN CONVERSATION WITH
RICHARD BURTON IN 1956
TYNAN: Is there any great playwright whose
PETER BROOK “He really had almost a
work has never tempted you at all?
strangely split mind between the academic part
BURTON: Brecht.
of him that wrote theory and the man of the
TYNAN: Why not Brecht?
theatre who refused. He would, even in
BURTON: Loathsome, vulgar, petty, little,
rehearsals, say ‘I don’t know what idiot wrote
nothing.
this theory’ or ‘I don’t know what idiot wrote this
TYNAN: Large, poetic, universal, everything.
part of the play’. I think he was a landmark in
theatre history, but like all landmarks, as one
moves on, the landmark is behind.”
SIMONE DE BEAUVOIR “We knew nothing
about Brecht but we were enchanted by the
way he depicted the adventures of Mack the
Knife. The work seemed to reflect a totally
anarchic attitude... Sartre knew all Kurt Weill's
songs by heart and we often used to quote the
catch phrase about grub first and morality
afterwards.”
JOAN LITTLEWOOD “Brecht, like Sartre, never
seemed to know exactly what he was saying.”
PETER HALL ON BRECHT AND SHAPING THE
RSC “We used the Brecht model in a totally
English way. Cambridge rigour.”
BILL GASKILL ON BRECHT AND SHAPING
THE NATIONAL “The idea of the Berliner
Ensemble towered over us. Ken Tynan
arranged for us to visit Berlin and to see the
work of Brecht’s company and to meet Helene
Weigel. The Oliviers, John Dexter, Tynan and
myself stood with Weigel at Brecht’s graveside
in the cemetery that he used to see from his
workroom window. We were unanimous in our
admiration for the work, perhaps for different
reasons. We believed that it set a standard to
be emulated.”

national theatre education workpack 26

Follow-up work
Condense the play: write out the title of each
act. What does the name suggest? Create a
group picture of the title of each act. Find the
essential moment of each act. For example,
Grusha takes the child in Act 1. Create a still
picture of this moment. This could be literal, or
psychological.
Look at Grusha’s decision-making moments
in the play – taking the child, crossing the
bridge, marrying Jessup. What are the stages
of development in her relationship with
Michael? At what point does Grusha accept
Michael as her own? How do you show this?
What is the difference between the wealthy
and the poor in the play? How do you show
the differences between the characters as
individuals, at the same time as maintaining the
idea of a mass of a class?
Write down all the different functions the
narrator has in the play. For example,
translator, interrogator, commentator,
storyteller. Explore different staging options for
each role – s/he might be in the middle of the
action at one point, or at the side of the stage at
the next.
Play around with a different storytelling style
for each act, eg. radio version, action version,
narrated version etc.
Make some of the big moments but give
restrictions: perhaps make the bridge with just
sound, or the palace coup with just chairs, or
the judgement of the circle with just movement.
Look at the idea of time passing. There are
different qualities of time in the play – make a
list of them: Grusha’s night watching the baby,
Grusha’s months of journeying to her brother’s
house, where Brecht jump cuts to each of the
people she meets, Azdak’s two years as a
travelling judge – explore ways of showing
these different qualities of time. You could think
about slow motion and fast action, or repetitive
movement, or using sound.
Identify the key line of the play. For example:
“Terrible is the temptation to do good.”
Improvise a scenario that suits this dilemma –
like finding a £50 note. Run the scene. Freeze it
before the moment of choice. Ask what the
character might be thinking. Split the group into
smaller groups. Their task is to show the
character just before we meet them. For
example, s/he has just given their last £1 coin to
a beggar. Or s/he has just come from work,
having been promoted. Run each group’s idea
followed by the original improvisation. Make a
choice about what the character does. How
does the new information change our
sympathies, make the scene more complex?
Now, in groups, try to make the scene as short
as possible. What is the most efficient way you
can find to tell the audience the whole story?
For those schools or teachers who saw or
worked on Translations, the National’s last
Education tour: Look at the English/Irish
scene. Run it with someone playing a
Brechtian narrator, translating feelings for us.
Compare it with the scene across the stream in
Act 3 with Grusha and Simon and the Singer
explaining their feelings. Explore making a
Brechtian version of the Translations scene –
and a very naturalistic version of the
Simon/Grusha scene.
READING
Bertolt Brecht Journals 1934–1955 (Methuen)
Bertolt Brecht Poems 1913–1956 (Minerva)
The Theatre of Bertolt Brecht (Methuen)
Brecht on Theatre by John Willett (Methuen)
A Choice of Evils by Martin Esslin
The Life and Lies of Bertolt Brecht by John
Fuegi
Bertolt Brecht: Chaos According To Plan by
John Fuegi (Cambridge University Press)
Personal memoirs
The Brecht Memoir by Eric Bentley (PAJ
Publications)
Living for Brecht by Ruth Berlau ( Fromm)
Brecht As They Knew Him translated by John
Peet, with Lotte Lenya, Elizabeth Hauptmann,
Angela Hurwicz, Caspar Neher, Paul Dessau
(Lawrence and Wishart)
Biographies
Bertolt Brecht: His Life, His Art and His Times
by Frederic Ewen
Brecht and Company: Sex, Politics and the
Making of the Modern Drama by John Fuegi
Brecht: A Biography by Ronald Hayman
Bertolt Brecht in America by James K Lyon
In Context
Brecht In Context by John Willett
Drama From Ibsen To Brecht by Raymond
Williams
national theatre education workpack 27
Workshop plans – with teachers
INSET FOR TEACHERS
This is the workshop plan for a day’s workshop
with a maximum 25 teachers, devised and led
by The Caucasian Chalk Circle Associate
Director, Elizabeth Freestone
Resources needed:
A collection of props, instruments,
costumes, a microphone and
speaker, a camera.
Some big bits of paper and pens.
A couple of copies of the play.
Copies of the Singer’s first speech
about Easter Sunday and the
Governor.
Bruegel’s ‘Dulle Griet’.
INTRODUCTION (10.30am)
Go around the group and introduce yourself.
What do you want to get out of today? How do
you usually teach Brecht?
Leader’s intro: This workshop is about looking
at Brecht in a different way – not trying to apply
his theories to this play but looking at the play
first and then asking how this particular group
of people can bring this story to life in the way
he wanted. This involves us being confident
that we understand the essence of what Brecht
was after and then feeling free to translate that
into the theatrical vocabulary we are confident
we can use. That we trust our basic ethos –
exposing the process – is Brechtian enough in
itself. Most plays and productions today are
essentially Brechtian. Brecht means theatrical,
exciting – Frank McGuinness describes the
play as “basically an adventure story”.
Filter, Brecht and technology: “On the whole
theatre has not been brought up to modern
technological standards.” Brecht on teaching:
“The world of knowledge takes a crazy turn
when teachers themselves are taught to learn.”
The day will be spent going through the the
National’s approach to the play, drawn from the
first few weeks of rehearsal.
PLAYING
Leader: The room is set up as the rehearsal
room was – a few bits of costume, a few props,
something to make music, a microphone, a
camera.
Our first day of rehearsal began with all of us
sitting on the floor making a big list of the
challenges of the play. These included things
like: “length”,“the baby”, “the bridge”, “making
it Brechtian”, and “number of characters”. We
then spent the rest of the day playing with ideas
that might meet these challenges. We’ll look at
a couple of them.
• Split into groups of two or three. Each group
has ten minutes to come up with an idea for
how to cross the bridge. One group has the
camera, one has sound, others can use what is
in the room, and each other. For example, you
could have a rope on the floor, use chairs, wind
noises, a camera swirling around.
• Share with the whole group. Then each group
goes away for five minutes again and is asked
to distil their work into the essential idea, the
simplest it can be. If there is time, do another
one – the mob hanging the judge or attempt the
impossible: the baby.
e.g video: using the child’s point of view
sound: crying, breathing
making a puppet out of clothes.
TEXT (11.15am)
Leader: Having spent two days working like this
and beginning our scrapbook of ideas, Frank
McGuinness came in and we read the play. It
wasn’t a straight read-through; after each act
we stopped and talked about it.
• So as a whole group – write out the titles of
each act:
(Prologue)
1. The Mighty Child
2. The Flight To The Northern Mountains
3. In The Northern Mountains
4. The Story Of The Judge
5. The Chalk Circle
• Discuss the title of each act: what it suggests,
what the main story point is.
• Talk about what the Singer says – “it’s really
two plays” – and discuss what that means and
the problems it poses for an audience.
• As a group, think about a different theatrical
language for each act. What is the feel of each
act? Making the play manageable, and
celebrating its eclecticism?
Leader: Eclectically is how we feel we want to
interpret Brecht. This was a big breakthrough in
rehearsals – seeking out the differences,
complexities, inconsistencies in the writing
style and discovering theatrical conventions
that reveal these.
national theatre education workpack 28
Workshop plans – with teachers
1. Doubling, chaos
2. Epic, cinematic, landscape
3. House, domestic, claustrophobia
4. Messy, rough, shambolic
5. Monumental, authoritative, fairytale
• Separate into five groups. Give each group an
act. Decide upon the essential story – a log line,
one line that sums up the act: “This is an act
about XXX [theme] in which YYY [story]”
Feedback to the whole group.
• In same groups, decide upon the essential
Brecht moment (think about the moment of
choice) and explore staging it. For example,
Grusha takes the baby, Grusha hits the
Ironshirt, Azdak becomes the judge. Share
with the whole group.
• Build the first act, using whatever props,
costumes, chairs etc are in the room. Start with
an empty space. One by one, and in silence,
put something in the space. We all add to it,
then maybe begin making sounds, maybe
putting (silent) characters in. Inevitably you end
up showing the basic story of the act by
working in this way. For example, junk might
end up sprawled everywhere, people may
scream, make banging noises, sirens, the clash
of swords. Keep going into Act 2 – change the
space, again starting one by one and then
building up the world. Keep going through the
play in this way, changing the physical and
sonic world for each act.
Afternoon session (2.45pm)
THE THREE TIMEFRAMES OF THE PLAY
(refer to page 18)
1. 1946
When Brecht was writing it (why he wrote it,
how exile affected his work, setting Prologue in
his contemporary environment).
2. The long ago
The ancient, fairytale land, fable.
3. 2006
Our contemporary references, war now and our
view of the second world war.
• Split into 3 groups. Each take one of the three
time periods. Make a list of issues to take into
account when exploring that timeframe. For
example, 1946 as post-war time, Brecht’s exile,
the Prologue, his contemporary setting; the
long ago as parable, the realm of the untrue,
simplifying politics; 2006 – the war now, our
view of Soviet Georgia. Each group should
imagine setting the play in a different
timeframe. One group should take 2006,
another 1946 and the other can choose another
time, or a mixture. Draw a picture of one
character from the play and what they might
wear. Draw a picture of one setting and what it
might look like. Describe, if not confident with
drawing, or use items or costumes in the room –
even use one of your group as a lump of clay,
model them into a pose and dress them.
Feedback to all.
Now think about the Singer. Think about how
the fact that the Singer belongs in different
worlds affects our interpretation of the story.
Think about the Singer as a bridge between the
audience and the story, and between the three
worlds. In three groups, with each group taking
one of the timeframes, think about how you
might dress the Singer – do you keep him in one
world, or can he move between them; is he
contemporary? How does our interpretation of
the play change when he belongs to different
worlds? What is the impact of each decision?
Use one person as a model and dress them.
NARRATION / ACTION (3pm)
List the roles the Singer takes, for example
translator, illustrator, storyteller, investigator.
Can anyone suggest moments where he is in
each role? For example, he’s a translator when
Grusha and Simon face each other across the
stream.
Draw diagrams, as shown overleaf.
How do you use the narration and action
simultaneously, or one before the other?
Practically, where do you put the Singer?
• Using the four methods, take the same piece
of text – the Singer’s opening speech about
Easter Sunday – and demonstrate the impact of
each way of narrating. Developing this, split
into four groups, and each take a small piece of
text from another part of the play and look at
staging it. Each group has to try and fulfil one
specific function the Singer has.
national theatre education workpack 29
Workshop plans – with teachers
DRAW THESE DIAGRAMS

ILLUSTRATION DEMONSTRATION
Story For Story With

ACTION ACTION

SINGER
SINGER

INVESTIGATION NARRATION
Story Within Story Then

ACTION

(reveal)
SINGER ACTION
SINGER

national theatre education workpack 30

Workshop plans – with teachers
CHARACTER AND ACTING (3.30pm) of the moment of choice within the action of the
In rehearsals, we thought about the characters play. Ask the questions – what is going through
in three different strands: The Groups, The her mind? How does she feel? Someone might
Fairytale Characters, The Real. say “frightened” – ask them to come in and take
• Make a chart and call out some characters up an image of fear. Someone else might say
that might belong to each group. You can see “confused” – ask them to come in and do the
how you could go through the play and assign same.
characters to each category. The clues are in Eventually we build a psychological picture of
the names: The Fat Prince is a fairytale Grusha’s mental state at the moment of choice.
character, servants are a group, Grusha is fully You can bring the picture to life by asking
formed. The challenge is to find an acting style everyone playing an emotion to find a word, or
that allows all to legitimately co-exist in the sound, and a simple action that they can
same play. repeat. Stagger-start them going, then fade
• Find one prop for a servant and one for a them down. Now ask the actor playing Grusha
soldier. Someone should bang the drum to turn to play the next beat of the action with that
everyone into servants, and again to turn them whirlwind of information in mind. Develop this
into soldiers. The solution is to find an essential exercise by running a scene – the Simon and
truth for each character and then crank up the Grusha proposal scene for example, and freeze
playfulness or the grotesquery as necessary – it at the moment of choice. Everyone steps in to
but everyone has a basis in truth. If you just play their inner emotional thoughts as above,
start with character it is very easy to make two- then unfreeze and finish the scene.
dimensional choices. Two exercises often used
in schools to help make a character choice QUESTIONS, FEEDBACK AND FINISH
easily are status games (find a number 1-10) (4.15pm)
and leading with a specific part of the body. For
example, let’s read the scene with the
Governor’s Wife and the dresses. You could
read the Governor’s Wife and find that she’s a
monster. That’s an easy conclusion. But if you
find something truthful – for example, that she’s
very obedient (because she does exactly as the
Adjutant asks) – then the character becomes
more complicated. Play the scene and focus on
the idea of obedience. Brecht is a better writer
than just simply making her a monster. He
deliberately writes contradictions.
• Think about character in more detail. Look at
Grusha. It’s nonsense that Brecht doesn’t want
the audience to empathise with her. He simply
wants us to think about her dilemmas as well,
which is why he gives her numerous moments
of decision-making in the play.
Use Brecht’s quote about Dulle Griet – “Grusha
should be simple and look like Brueghel’s Mad
Meg, a beast of burden.”
Look at the picture (see page 20). What does he
mean by this? What moment in the play could
this be? Recreate the essence of the picture
with a moment in the play – for example, fleeing
the Ironshirts. With students you might find a
picture for each character – not a portrait, but a
picture in action.

Think about Grusha’s three big psychological

decision moments: to take the child, when the
child becomes hers, and when she fights for the
child. Begin with one person taking up a freeze

national theatre education workpack 31

Workshop plans – with students
2 hours, maximum 30 participants
devised and led by The Caucasian Chalk Circle
Associate Director with one musician and two
actors.
Resources needed:
A collection of props, instruments,
costumes, a microphone and
speaker, a camera.
Some big bits of paper and pens.
A couple of copies of the play.
IMAGES
Leader gives a quick explanation of the
purpose of the workshop and the structure of
the session.
• Everyone finds a space in the room, on their
own. (This is a simple, initially static, warm-up
which encourages concentration and
co-ordination). It’s an exercise where everyone
imagines they are a waiter with a plate of hot
food on their hand. They have to find ways of
taking it around their body, over their head,
through their legs, without dropping the plate –
ie by keeping the palm of their hand flat at all
times whilst contorting themselves into
impossible positions. The next stage of this
exercise is to move around the room whilst
doing it – simultaneously trying not to bump
into other people.
• Everyone (now plateless) walks around the
room. (This is about working at balancing the
space, filling the gaps). The group are given the
instruction to freeze when the leader claps.
Then start again. Then freeze. Then start. The
pace varies. Take this into freezing on a word
rather than a clap. Each individual has to make
an image of the word. The words start random –
hero, fear, love – and gradually become specific
to the play – war, choice, judgement. Stop and
look at some of the images and ask what we
can read into them. Put two images together
and speculate on setting, and character. Find a
starting picture that seems rich, and ask other
people to join and take up a related image, until
it has built what could be a frozen moment from
a bigger story, from the play. Do this several
times and build a number of images that relate
to key scenes in the play, all the time asking
questions about where the scene could be,
who could be in it, what would happen if we
take one person away and replace them, what’s
just happened, what is about to happen.
Encourage some of the people not already in
the image to build the picture of the scene that
happens five minutes later, or five years later.
Discuss the transition between the two and do
a slow motion movement that shows the
change. Eventually you’ll have realised about
five key moments in the play. Write these down
in the form of scene titles on big bits of paper,
something like:
GRUSHA TAKES THE BABY or
AZDAK DELIVERS HIS JUDGEMENT.
MOMENTS
The room is set up as the National’s rehearsal
room was – a few bits of costume, a few props,
something to make music, a microphone, a
camera.
• Split into groups for each of the play’s key
moments. Each group has ten minutes to come
up with an idea for their moment. One group
has a video camera, one has sound, others can
use what is in the room, and each other. For
example, you could have a rope on the floor,
use chairs, wind noises, a camera swirling
around. Share with the whole group. Discuss.
Each group goes away and refines their idea.
You might have made the bridge, the riots,
Azdak’s train in this way. Ideally, create at least
one moment for each act of the play.
STORY
• As a whole group write out the titles of each
act:
(Prologue)
1. The Mighty Child
2. The Flight To The Northern Mountains
3. In The Northern Mountains
4. The Story Of The Judge
5. The Chalk Circle
Discuss each title – what it suggests, what the
main story point might be, what kind of
locations might be involved. Make a picture for
each act, using whatever props, costumes,
chairs etc are in the room. Start with an empty
space. One by one, and in silence, put
something in the space. All should add to it,
then maybe begin making sounds, maybe
putting (silent) characters in. Inevitably you end
up showing the basic story of the act by
working in this way. For example, junk might
end up sprawled everywhere, people may
scream, make banging noises, sirens, the clash
of swords. Keep going into Act 2 – change the
space, again starting one-by-one and then
building up the world. Keep going through the
play in this way, changing the physical and
sonic world for each act.
national theatre education workpack 32
Workshop plans – with students
MUSIC
Not only does the Singer tell the whole story,
Grusha and Azdak each have songs. It is clear
with all the journey and crowd scenes in the
play, there is huge scope for sound. Part of the
National/Filter’s approach has been to make all
of the actors create the sound.
• Look at the scene with Lavrenti and Grusha,
when the snow melts from the roof. Everyone
should grab something in the room that might
make a good dripping sound. Two volunteers
read the scene and the group works together to
choreograph the right build and rhythm of
dripping that Brecht asks for to complement
the scene. It might mean starting with one
sound, adding more, building in volume and
pace and then cutting out altogether when
spring comes. This is an exercise about
listening to each other, and to the scene.

PLAY
Aim to end the session with a rough run of the
play, pooling together all our ideas. One person
shows the things that have been written down
during the session, in the right order. Begin by
making the world of Act 1 as a group, then cut
to the group who devised a moment of Grusha
taking the child, then make Act 2, then cut to
the group who made the Ironshirt moment, then
on to Act 3 and the Lavrenti/Grusha scene and
so on until you reach the chalk circle
judgement.

MEMORY
(For groups who have seen the production.)
In a circle invite one person to mould another, or
a few, into a moment from the production. This
is done in silence. All should look at the image
and keep tweaking it to make it clear until
everyone remembers the moment. Then
someone can step in and make a change – take
one character out, or add a sound, or shift the
focus. How does this change the moment?
What do the audience now see?

QUESTIONS AND FINISH

national theatre education workpack 33