The Caucasian Chalk Circle

By Bertolt Brecht

Translated by Alistair Beaton

Directed by Christine Nicholson

November 15–24, 2019
The Playhouse at Zellerbach Hall
Running Time: 140 minutes (with one 10-minute intermission)

Description

This captivating play within a play tells the corresponding stories of an agrarian land dispute and a young servant who sacrifices her own well-being to raise an abandoned child. Bertolt Brecht masterfully employs historification and distancing to reveal the hidden (and not so hidden) oppression of the powerless by the powerful. We are challenged not only to see the inequality inherent in power structures, but also to find ways to change our relationship to those structures—to find our way to justice, fairness, and compassion in the face of overwhelming odds.


Press Coverage

The Daily Californian: UC Berkeley stages Brecht's fiery 'The Caucasian Chalk Circle'

2019 production of "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" by Bertolt Brecht

Photo by Ben Dillon