Photos Reviews

The Caucasian Chalk Circle

November 1982

by Berthold Brecht, directed by Mary Jones

Cast:

Marie Berry - Peasant woman, beggar, nurse, innkeeper, Mother-in-law & old woman

Roy Wheeler - Old peasant & old man

Lynn Trout - Girl tractor driver, doctor, servant, elegant lady & Ludovika

Jim Orford - Expert from the capital, Simon Chachava, Fugitive (Grand Duke) & Fat Princes's Nephew

Ben Grimsey - Old peasant, Fat prince, Lavrenti (Grusha's brother) & Ludovika's father

Brian Bowker - Wounded soldier, messenger, old man, stableman, wedding guest, doctor & bandit

Joyce Evans - Peasant woman, servant, merchant woman, invalid & old woman

Alison Lambourne - Agriculturist, cook, elegant lady, peasant woman & wedding guest

Rosie Coveney - Young worker, doctor, Aniko (Grusha's sister-in-law) & lawyer

Carol Pettit - Peasant woman, beggar, servant & wedding guest

Margaret Butt - Peasant woman, Natella Abashvili (Governor's wife) & wedding guest

Diana Lucas - Peasant woman, Grusha Vachnadze (kitchen maid).

Gordon Halliday - Narrator

Fenny Gill - Narrator

Rob Harris - Beggar, Architect, servant, wedding guest, limping man & farmer

Juliet Stubbing - Beggar, Architect, servant, merchant woman, wedding guest & lawyer

Richard Price - Ironshirt, servant, peasant, stableman

John Hiley-Payne - Ironshirt, merchant & farmer

James Pettit - Georgi Abashvili (Governor), servant, monk & Shauva (policeman)

Steve Bright - Shalva (adjutant), blackmailer & farmer

Rachel Jones - Servant, wedding guest, peasant girl & nurse

Jean Gill - Servant & peasant girl

Dick Dann - Corporal Yussup

Steve Langfield - Blockhead

Philip Jones - Azdak

Production Team:

Producer - Mary Jones

Production secretary - Gillian Yates

Stage crew - Mike Trout, Roy Wheeler, Barry Matthews & Brian Bowker

Lighting - Barry Matthews

Costumes - Olive Rumford & Sarah Johnson

Props - Louise Wigfield, Rosemary Stephenson & Sybil Hopson

Make-up - Vicky Gill & Jan Jones

Prompt - Joan Bowditch

Front of House - Ron Berry & Anne Atkinson

Publicity - Lynn Trout & Richard Thorne

Printing - Don Badger

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Original music composed by - Gillian Yates, Philip Jones & Andy Stevens

Performed by - Andy Stevens & Gillian Yates

Reviews:

From Exmouth & East Devon Journal:

....such a talented team.

Topsham players show they really are the tops

The Estuary Players at Topsham are the top amateur theatre group in the area (at least, so one of their number told me last week).

With that recommendation in mind, I went to see their latest production, Bertolt Brecht's Caucasian Chalk Circle expecting a high standard of performance.

I was not disappointed.

The play is aimed at the intelligent theatre-goer. The Estuary Players recognised this, and avoided playing down to their audience.

Stimulated

They performed their many parts - each actor had several roles to portray - at a pace which kept the audience stimulated and interested.

Faced with having to tell a simple but emotive tale and at the same time make a political point about class distinction in a country ravaged by revolution, they never let one detract from the other.

If the play was confusing at any point, it was at the beginning, when the audience had not fully warmed up. Once the actors had captured their attention, however, they kept a firm grip on it.

It hardly seems fair to pick out any particular actor as being especially outstanding. Most of the cast could have played lead roles superbly.

Energetic

But Philip Jones, as the people's judge, Azdak, and Diana Lucas, as Grusha Vachnadze, the kitchen maid who fled with the governor's baby after it was left behind during rioting, both cast a strong spell on the audience by the skill of their acting.

Of those with smaller roles, my favourite was Dick Dann, whose characterful corporal was an energetically-played delight.

The producer, Mary Jones, is lucky to have such a talented team.

- Reviewed by: S.P.

Photos:

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