Evening star., 1961-10-31

The other is that of Bert
sian Circle Of Chalk" is the
baptismal play choice of Pro-
ducing Director Zelda Fich-
andler. AS to the relative pop
ularity of the two styles, the
conjecture must be in favor Of
Mr.. Weese's dramatic architec-
ture, at least until playgoers
adjust to a form as radical as
Brecht's.
The play, so different from
anything American audiences
are accustomed to, is the work
OF one Of the century's great
artistic anarchists. Indeed, in
no terms with which this
country's theatergoers are ia
miliar, is it a play at all. 1t is
rather a parable, a mercurially
flighty narrative which fol-
lows a labyrinthine course
through sketch, song, dance
and combinations thereof to a
conclusion that is happy, log
ical, and bewildering to those
unprepared for Brecht's de-
fiant non-conformity.
THE Caucasian Circle of
Chalk" is at its best in its
comic moods. These are its au-
thor's most emphatic assertions
Of the cynical nihilism which
motivateS his rejection of the
familiar in theater. These best
express Brecht's pure faith in
Brecht, an attitude vivaciously
and visibly shared in Alan
Schneider's direction of the
play.
The latter. too, is a persua-
sive and original thinker who
has found the new Arenas COM
pany engagingly responsive to
his concept of Brecht's inten-
ton in this best, or next best,
Of his abusive and elusive plays.
&&
Eye-appealing and absorb
ingly acrobatic, the play finds
its distant source in an ancient
Chinese legend. In an artless
way. it has managed to lose
place, period, and nationality
while its author observes hu-
man behaviour in a sequence Of
five stories" or acts.
At the heart Of all Of these
stands a serving maid in a no
BILE household who. yielding to
the terrible temptation to
goodness" undertakes the care
and rearing of the infant
princeling when the family's
rule is upset by revolution. Ulti-
mately, when the real mother
Of the boy tries to reclaim him,
his custody is determined by a
Solomon-like Judgment.
The lad is placed in a chalk
circle. presumably to be award
ed to the one, deserting mother
or loyal servant, who succeeds
IN pulling him to her. The win
ner. and by what method, is
perhaps better left to the play
itself to tell.
Arenas is a new version of
THE Chalk Circle" It is the
work of John Holmstrom, who
ignores a basic point CT the
original, that the rivalry over
the child involves two Com
munist collective farms - one
run selflessly, the other for
private gain. The adaptation
thus mutes the political flavor
Of the parable but without
harm, at least in the case of
theatergoers unfamiliar with
basic Brecht.
%% -
What is not lost in Arenas
extravagant production is
Brecht's sense Of man as face
less. A multitude of humans
are involved in the work, but
only two are individualists
enough to stand out as char
acterS.
One Of these is the servant
girl, Grusche, affectingly acted
and sung by Melinda Dillon,
new to Arena. The other is the
knavish comic character, the
scoundrelly, lecherous, Azdak,
played by another newcomer,
David Hurst. Azdak, as Justices
administrator, is an impossible
jurist who comes up with right
decisions for all the wrong rea-
sons save in the instance of the
boys custody.
&&
Director Schneider. familiar
with Brecht's staging of his own
plays in the famed Berliner En-
Semble in East Berlin, makes