Carrie Hope Fletcher shines in radical re-staging of The Caucasian Chalk Circle – review
What to do with The Caucasian Chalk Circle? There’s plenty going on within Brecht’s renowned play-within-a-play, and that’s before a whole host of songs are thrown into the equation, as they are with this radical re-staging.
The result is rather a lot of storytelling, which at times is entertaining, although it runs at nearly three hours and that length doesn’t feel entirely justified.
Brecht’s work is not always the most accessible, but this production – adapted by Steve Waters – makes a valiant effort. It’s surprisingly comedic: many of the characters are re-imagined as grotesque caricatures, with some of the villains bordering on pantomime-levels of subtlety.
The irreverent humour and enjoyable songs make this version of the play easily digestible. In the central role of heroine Grusha – who adopts an abandoned baby and raises it as her own – is Carrie Hope Fletcher.
