Student: José Martínez Hernández e-mail: jomarhe5@alumni.uv.es

English Philology. First cicle, first course.

English Theatre XIX & XX Centuries Group B ( evenings ).

Play: El círculo de tiza caucasiano. Written in 1945. The name of the play comes after another play " El círculo de tiza " , inspired in the famous one of the judgement of King Sallomon, that later on inspired the chinese legend from where the subject of the law process come from. First on stage in Berlin in 1954.

Author: Bertolt Brecht ( 1898-1956 ). He was a theoretic of the " Epic Theatre" , and one of the critics of the Realism - Naturalism, and he defended keeping the "imaginary" distance in the theatre between the spectator and the play, therefore not allowing the public to get involved and surrounded by the plot, thus not allowing it to live the play as if the play was a real thing. In order to do that he uses the two figures dressed as doorkeepers ( the singers ), which tell and sing and show the billboards to comment and to introduce the scenes and what is happening or about to happen.

Director and theatrical research: Rafael Cruz.

By the students of the " Off " theatre and cinema school.

Characters.

There are about forty-five of them. So, for obvious lack of space, only the most important ones will be reflected.

First, the peasants and the women peasants from the two Koljos who peacefully argue for a piece of land. With them the tale of the legend is introduced, thus bringing a frame of theatre inside theatre. It helps Brecht's purpose of "keeping at a distance" theatre and public.

The disputed child, a baby that is represented by just a dress for obvious reasons. His biological mother is a tyrant woman, that has no problem whatsoever escaping the turmoil without the child.

Grushe, whose name reminds of Russia, honest, well hearted, naive and humble and shoeless but brave servant. Although not the biological, can be considered the real mother of the creature, since she is the one that brings it up, and the one that cares, and is persecuted, and risks and suffers a lot for the upbringing.

It springs to mind that Grushe, although engaged, has a child having had no phisical relation with anyone. She is portrayed as the virtuous heroin of the play.

Later on, in order to protect the child, she has to get married to a man, Yusup, that was suposed to die soon, but it doesn't come that way. Grushe prior to that, got engaged with Simon Jajava, the soldier, in a very distant and unusual way ( at least in the play ). To start with, he is a character that can be heard talking about himself and Grushe in third person. He is an honest and well hearted guy, but gets ( temporarily ) dissapointed in a conversation with Grushe. The river stands in between them, although its water does not damp anyone, and from the other side of the river Simon learns what is happened to her and leaves.

There are as well the other two soldiers, present throughout most of the play, described as mean and dumb, particularly the one called " Tarugo ", with a boot heel ( and sole ) bigger than the other, with the subsequent limping.

And among the many other characters, the one that is obvious to remark is Azdak, the witty judge who favours the people and the poor. He simbolises the good judgement ( like King Sollomon ) and the one that finds the right way to find out who is the " real " mother. Somehow there is the following thought, said during the play. Everything should belong to the people that care. The land for the peasants that work it, the children for the mothers which care, the cars for the good drivers, etc...

The plot is very interesting. There are realy two stories. The one of the child and the one of the judge ( introduced with a flashback ), that later converge into one. The most important one being the one that leads to the circle. The real mother abandons the child as she escapes the turmoil. The servant with no means and among many difficulties raises the child, having to be on the run because of that. Even she has to marry a man she doesn´t know for helping the child. That creates a conflict with the soldier she is engaged to. With fortune, when the biological mother goes to the judge to recover her child, the wise judge puts them on trial with the famous circle, in which both of them hold the child from one arm and are supposed to pull with all their strength. Obviously the mother that cares is unable to pull, as that would harm the child. Even the ccircle trial is done two times, same result. Seeing that, the judge not only gives the child to Grushe, but also divorces her, so that she can get married to her boyfriend. A fine end.

More or less the same for the judge, who after being kicked and despised, only in the las moment was saved of being hanged, by an order of the Great Duque, as the judge was the one that left him escaping.

After the judge dissapearence the people remember him idealistically, as a special man in a special time.

There are many references; to the Revolution ( the two distinguished ladies check Grushe's hand to discover she is lying, a twist of what happened the other way round during the Revolution ), turmoil, hanging people ( the soutane ), deceased governor, the Duque on the run for his life, the rich against the poor, the horrors of war, the proletary ( weavers ), etc...

It is a different, dinamic play, where a lot is said and told. It was performed by students in a very spartan room, with likewise lighting, helped by some atrezzo of which the long ropes, that appear many times, are to be remarked. The settings were humble, and particularly nice were the old bycicles on each corner of the stage. Probable symbols of the escape, of the movement, of the revolution, the rythmic turning of the wheel reminds of the noise of a Cinema camera recording. It was full of public ( although there was little sitting capacity ) and it aplauded at the end of the play, while all actors engaged themselves in a ball. It was not a proper theatre, but that is exactly why the students/actors were there.

Not bad at all to be performed by students, and interesting mixture of tales with a fine twist of one of the known legendary judgements of King Sollomon.