Available Formats
Paperback
Published: 1st July 2010
Paperback
Published: 20th August 2007
Paperback, New Edition - New Edition
Published: 1st August 2006
Paperback, 2nd edition
Published: 17th June 2021
The Caucasian Chalk Circle
By (Author) Bertolt Brecht
Edited by Eric Bentley
Penguin Books Ltd
Penguin Classics
20th August 2007
5th July 2007
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
832.912
Paperback
144
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 9mm
113g
New to Modern Classics The play is a parable inspired by the Chinese play Chalk Circle. Written at the close of World War II, the story is set in the Caucasus mountains of Georgia, and retells the tale of King Solomon and a child claimed by two mothers. A chalk circle is metaphorically drawn around a society misdirected in its priorities. Brecht's statements about class are cloaked in the innocence of a fable that whispers insistently to the audience.
Bertold Brecht (1898-1956) is one of Germany's best-known playwrights. His social critiques, including The Caucasian Chalk Circle, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Threepenny Opera, resonate with modern audiences and continue to be frequently performed. Eric Bentley, one of the foremost authorities on the modern theatre, is a recognized playwright, critic and scholar, and a longtime intimate of Brecht. His most recent book is Bentley on Brecht.