Bertolt Brecht�s The CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRLCE is one of those famous plays that have been adapted and performed frequently all over the world. The play has had innumerable interpretations and has been transplanted to suit diverse socio-political milieus. Brecht�s genius has after all transformed an age old folk tale into a brilliant piece of theatre.
At the NSD Satellite festival in Mumbai in January 2008, a production of this play from Afghanistan, provided a window to the present state of theatre in that country, ravaged by political instability and without a sign of respite for the near future, at least. The production was successful in presenting the exuberance of its young actors, who no doubt enjoyed performing. The story starts with the political turmoil; the aggressors have left behind a trail of devastation. The farmers take charge of the state of affairs and decide that they will transfer the farming lands to the cultivators who will ensure optimum productivity. In that chaos an ordinary servant girl in a governor�s palace notices the small abandoned child of the governor. She realizes the danger to the life of that child and takes it away. But the very next moment she takes in the gravity of her kind act. In spite of her inner conflict about the child�s safety and the future complications that may enfold for her- such as being an unwed mother in an orthodox society, she decides to save the child. She rescues the child from the greedy soldiers who are out to get the baby for a fat reward. She is on the run with the child and is refused shelter, even from her brother. Her fianc� returns from the war but cannot marry the mother of someone else�s child! Finally the actual parents return to claim the baby. Now the perennial question arises - To whom does the child belong? To the woman who gave birth or to the one who reared it? The production had some brilliant touches as far as the use of space was concerned. The costumes too were defined by their silhouettes and colour. The use of folk music made the dances come alive. The best aspect of the production was its end. In the last few minutes, a sort of a recap of the action in the play takes place in form of cameo like freeze frames of the dramatic points of the story. These were beautifully set to music. Otherwise the unfamiliar language did come in the way of fully appreciating the comic and emotive sequences. The production also suffered from frequent, dull narrations, which replaced the action on the stage and the entries and the exits tended to be repetitive and boring. The narrator either lacked the intensity required by the script or got so emotionally involved with the action that he was unable to see himself as separate from the actors. His voice was also weak and unclear.
The production further negates the Brechtian theory of alienation, which is to get the audience to think than just get emotionally involved. The d�cor by Ahmad Shafiq, supported by the technical assistance of Naser Khan, was hugely instrumental in giving an impetus to the production but amidst other limitations, the director Abolghassem Absalan has not been entirely successful in mounting this production.
*The writer is a senior theatre and television person who has trained under Ebrahim Alkazi at the National School of Drama (NSD). She has written for publications such as �The Asian Age� and is a regular contributor to the Prithvi Theatre Newsletter (PT Notes). She also offers theatre training to students at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan and is an important critical voice for the Gujarati Theatre.
