Caucasian Chalk Circle - A Kannada Play: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE -...

The Abhinaya National Theatre Monthly magazine is organising the 2nd Abhinaya National Theatre Festival 2007 from 9th to 12th August, at the Ravindra Bharathi. Six stage plays and four street plays from all over the country will be staged during the 4-day festival.

A Telugu play Ye Velugulaki Prasthanam on 9th August; a Telugu street play Tadabu Lakadana Jibu Jibu and a Hindi/English play Numbers In The Dark on 10th August; an English play The Island, a Telugu street play Dakshinayanam and a Kannada play Caucasian Chalk Circle on 11th August; and a Tamil play Pavan Kunju, a Tamil street play Payanam and a Manipuri play Acheekpagi Khongjel on 12th August, will be staged.

Today, the third and penultimate day, a Kannada play called Caucasian Chalk Circle will be staged by Kailasam Hovvasi Kala Vedike, Gulbarga. The play is directed by Joseph John.

The Caucasian Chalk Circle was written in 1944, just one year before the end of the Second World War, while Bertolt Brecht was living in the United States in exile. The play begins with a tribunal hearing to determine ownership of a valley in the war-torn country of Grusinia. A singer tells of a story about an abandoned royal child. The child is rescued by a common woman, and they face many dangers as they try to flee to safety. To further complicate matters, the Royal family wants the child back, and so the woman and child must find a way to hide.

The climax of the play is when the court must decide who should get custody of the child - the biological mother or the woman who saved him. Only the Chalk Circle can decide, and in the end a great lesson is learnt regarding the people of Grusinia and the valley they are fighting over.

Abhinaya National Theatre Monthly was founded in the 2004 by Gadde Srinivas, a theater artiste and a die-hard lover of theater. Srinivas holds a diploma in theater arts. Quitting his lucrative profession in Telugu movies, he started Abhinaya, a first-of-its-kind magazine in India dedicated exclusively to theater. He organises many events throughout the year, like the State Theatre Festival in Guntur, and Padya Nataka Festival and Nataka Rachana Poteelu in Hyderabad.

Please contact G Srinivas at 93911-11622 for further details.