The Caucasian Chalk Circle Review
This play was held in the black box at Cheshire Academy; I went to the play on November 10th, 2017. The main actors are Samantha Weed, Yuheng (Peter) Deng, Amalia Gutierrez, Yuanjun (Aaron) Luo, David Mathisson, Jiaxin (Linda) Li, Zhengxian (Jason) Lin, Erin King, Zoe Genden, Huijin (Helen) Zheng, and Krystal Charter. The director of this play is Mr. Aronson. The play is called "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" by Bertolt Brecht and translated by Eric Bently.
At the very beginning of the show, I realized that it has nothing directly to do with the Caucasian Chalk Circle, but this play is kind of like a throwback. So, the show started with a debate between two farms for arguing the owner of the land or valley. After the debate, the singer (Amalia Gutierrez) came out to tell the story of the Caucasian Chalk Circle. In the story, a governor (King) named Georgi Abashwili (Jason Lin) was killed by the Prince’s soldiers. His wife Natella Abashwili (Linda Li) left their child behind on purpose because she was jealous of the child and she cared more about her clothes and appearance rather than her son. A kitchen servant called Grusha Vashnadze (Sam Weed) took the child and ran away from the central city. She thought of leaving the child behind like what his real mother did, but when she saw the soldiers who were hunting the child, she attacked them, protected the child and kept young Michael to herself. She had no place to go at first, but after a while, she thought that she could go to her brother's place which is on the other side of the country. When she arrived at her brother’s home, her brother thought that it is not good to both of them if Grusha had a child but no husband. So she was forced to, she had to marry a stranger to cover for the child; although she had already engaged with a soldier, it is not her fault. When the war is over, soldiers that were protecting Georgi's wife found the child Michael and tried to take the child back from Grusha. Grusha said that this is her child, instead of the governors'. So, she had been put on a trial. Azdak (Peter Deng) became the judge. When he was dealing with Grusha’s case, he tested Grusha’s love and truths for little Michael. Here is when the highlight and the main theme brought up. He drew a circle with a white chalk and asked little Michael stand in the middle of the circle, and let Grusha and the governor’s wife Natella Abashwili held the child's hands and pulled him from two opposite sides. Grusha did not want to hurt the child, so she did not pull the child from her side. Azdak then said the child belonged to Grusha and divorced Grusha and the stranger "accidentally." Additionally, back to the soldier and Grusha, the soldier understood Grusha's kindness, so he accepted the child, and they live together happily.
This play had a very simple staging, but still have everything they need in the play, and also the staging is not confusing at all. People can easily tell which scene is where. I really like the staging of that how they paint everything into black because I remembered all the wooden things were wood's color when I first saw it, and I really do think that all black can represent more about the whole emotion of the whole play, which is a little bit oppressed, and everyone is having a hard time in this story. Also, I want to say everyone in this show acted so well and naturally. I like the scene where Grusha and Simon (soldier played by Aaron), Simon was so shy and saying a lot of random stuff that makes Grusha thought that he is crazy, this was actually the cute side of the soldier Simon, and it is a big difference and distinct contrast with Simon himself after he came back from the war. I like the staging of how Grusha and Simon met each other every time. I cannot remember there always a river between them, or it was just the staging. But, I like the idea of letting them standing across from each other, and facing each other with some distances in between. And I like the staging of separate the stage into two sides. Although I do not know whether they did it on purpose or not. It makes me feel like the "room" on the right-hand side is always for the people who are kind of poor and have no power. The left side of the "room" is someone who dressed better and had something to fill their stomachs up (but they are not rich either, just better than the other side).
My favorite actor is Sam Weed, not only because she is the main character, but also because she acted so well and delivered the emotions and massages the audiences should get from her character. There are two specific scenes that she acted well, and I really liked. One is that when she was crossing the "broken bridge," every single audience in the black box could see that the "bridge" is not broken at all, but Sam acted the carefulness out so well, it looks like she is crossing a broken bridge step by step. The second scene I liked about her acting is that when she sat next to the river and missed her soldier Simon, she was actually touching the "river" which is the floor, and she was holding the necklace that Simon gave to her. All these little details are the main and important part of an actor, and I think she portrayed a good the image of Grusha.
Finally, I enjoyed this play a lot, not only because I have a lot of friends who were part of the play, but also this play has a really good meaning in it. Which to me is the real mother is not depends on blood, but more on who really cares about the young little child.
At the very beginning of the show, I realized that it has nothing directly to do with the Caucasian Chalk Circle, but this play is kind of like a throwback. So, the show started with a debate between two farms for arguing the owner of the land or valley. After the debate, the singer (Amalia Gutierrez) came out to tell the story of the Caucasian Chalk Circle. In the story, a governor (King) named Georgi Abashwili (Jason Lin) was killed by the Prince’s soldiers. His wife Natella Abashwili (Linda Li) left their child behind on purpose because she was jealous of the child and she cared more about her clothes and appearance rather than her son. A kitchen servant called Grusha Vashnadze (Sam Weed) took the child and ran away from the central city. She thought of leaving the child behind like what his real mother did, but when she saw the soldiers who were hunting the child, she attacked them, protected the child and kept young Michael to herself. She had no place to go at first, but after a while, she thought that she could go to her brother's place which is on the other side of the country. When she arrived at her brother’s home, her brother thought that it is not good to both of them if Grusha had a child but no husband. So she was forced to, she had to marry a stranger to cover for the child; although she had already engaged with a soldier, it is not her fault. When the war is over, soldiers that were protecting Georgi's wife found the child Michael and tried to take the child back from Grusha. Grusha said that this is her child, instead of the governors'. So, she had been put on a trial. Azdak (Peter Deng) became the judge. When he was dealing with Grusha’s case, he tested Grusha’s love and truths for little Michael. Here is when the highlight and the main theme brought up. He drew a circle with a white chalk and asked little Michael stand in the middle of the circle, and let Grusha and the governor’s wife Natella Abashwili held the child's hands and pulled him from two opposite sides. Grusha did not want to hurt the child, so she did not pull the child from her side. Azdak then said the child belonged to Grusha and divorced Grusha and the stranger "accidentally." Additionally, back to the soldier and Grusha, the soldier understood Grusha's kindness, so he accepted the child, and they live together happily.
This play had a very simple staging, but still have everything they need in the play, and also the staging is not confusing at all. People can easily tell which scene is where. I really like the staging of that how they paint everything into black because I remembered all the wooden things were wood's color when I first saw it, and I really do think that all black can represent more about the whole emotion of the whole play, which is a little bit oppressed, and everyone is having a hard time in this story. Also, I want to say everyone in this show acted so well and naturally. I like the scene where Grusha and Simon (soldier played by Aaron), Simon was so shy and saying a lot of random stuff that makes Grusha thought that he is crazy, this was actually the cute side of the soldier Simon, and it is a big difference and distinct contrast with Simon himself after he came back from the war. I like the staging of how Grusha and Simon met each other every time. I cannot remember there always a river between them, or it was just the staging. But, I like the idea of letting them standing across from each other, and facing each other with some distances in between. And I like the staging of separate the stage into two sides. Although I do not know whether they did it on purpose or not. It makes me feel like the "room" on the right-hand side is always for the people who are kind of poor and have no power. The left side of the "room" is someone who dressed better and had something to fill their stomachs up (but they are not rich either, just better than the other side).
My favorite actor is Sam Weed, not only because she is the main character, but also because she acted so well and delivered the emotions and massages the audiences should get from her character. There are two specific scenes that she acted well, and I really liked. One is that when she was crossing the "broken bridge," every single audience in the black box could see that the "bridge" is not broken at all, but Sam acted the carefulness out so well, it looks like she is crossing a broken bridge step by step. The second scene I liked about her acting is that when she sat next to the river and missed her soldier Simon, she was actually touching the "river" which is the floor, and she was holding the necklace that Simon gave to her. All these little details are the main and important part of an actor, and I think she portrayed a good the image of Grusha.
Finally, I enjoyed this play a lot, not only because I have a lot of friends who were part of the play, but also this play has a really good meaning in it. Which to me is the real mother is not depends on blood, but more on who really cares about the young little child.
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