On 14 and 15 April at 7 PM, Nemzeti Színház (National Theatre) presents Bertolt Brecht’s world famous drama, The Caucasian Chalk Circle. It will be available in German, with Hungarian and English subtitles.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle tells the story of an infant, whose mother has no other choice but to leave him to another lady in the heat of the revolution. The „newly appointed” mother goes through hell, and while she is trying to escape from dangerous situations, somehow she ends up in jail. Years later the once abandoned baby becomes a millionaire heiress. In the meantime, Judge Acdak is still very popular among the poor and hated among the rich. When the real mother returns and claims her son back, the judge reintroduces Salamon’s chalk circle.
The modernist German playwright and founder of the Berliner Ensemble, Bertolt Brecht wrote The Caucasian Chalk Circle in 1944. Ten years later they took over Theatre am Schiffbauerdamm and the drama was their first performance.
This time, The Caucasian Chalk Circle will be directed by Michael Thalheimer, permanent member of the Berliner Ensemble. He was born in 1965 in Frankfurt am Main. In 1985 he started to study acting in Bern, and he performed in several Swiss theatres. He first tried his hand at directing in 1997 in theatre Chemnitz. From 2005-2008 he was the director in chief and the member of the Art Council in Deutsches Theatre Berlin. When Oliver Reese was appointed as Berliner Ensemble’s new artistic director in 2017-2018, Michael Thalheimer became the resident director and member of the Art Council.
As a director, Thalheimer has been acknowledged with several awards and accomplishments. He was honoured with the Nestroy-Prize multiple times, won 3Sat channel’s innovative award, the notable Friedrich Luft-Award and he also took home the Russian Golden Mask two times. His plays are featured in the famous Berlin Theatre Meeting, the Saltburger Festspiele, the Wiener Festwochen and the Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro Bogota as well.
For more details and ticket prices, please check out the National Theatre’s website!
