Scene with Signs Reflection (Excerpt from Brecht’s “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”

    Overall, our excerpt of a scene from “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” worked out even better than I had initially hoped. First of all, though it took us extra time to learn our lines and become comfortable performing the scene, the performances ended up being spot-on. Unfortunately there are moments in the video where, even after drastically raising the volume of the raw video footage and lowering the volume of the background music, it could be difficult to tell what we were saying. In the future, I think that we can all work on speaking louder and more clearly. However, speaking of the music, I personally feel that it added to the atmosphere and tension of the scene, especially the short song used at the end, without making its presence too obvious. Then again, it would likely have felt more Brechtian without the music, even if it ended up feeling slightly more awkward as a consequence.
    The minimalistic set also worked in our favor, as it forces the audience to focus on the content of the scene rather than becoming fully immersed, the mind of effect that Brecht was going for in his plays. In retrospect, the idea of using a bottle for the baby did not work out as well as we had originally envisioned it. While it succeeded in being less sympathetic than an actual baby doll would have been, I can see how any random person watching the scene could take a while to realize what the bottle is meant to represent. If we had planned ahead more, we could have made its purpose more clear. Even the mini label added to the bottle clarifying its role is impossible to read in the video.
    When we started work on this scene, the aspect we put the most thought into was the use of signs. We made most of them double sided both to save posterboard and to add an extra layer of meaning to each one. Watching the video, I see that I personally could have paid more attention to making my sign visible to the audience while performing, but Helen and Youngchen did well in this regard. Helen also pausing the scene to show off the last two signs as she picked them up was a good call in that it both gave the audience time to read them and further contributed to the staged feeling this play is meant to give off.
    The signs all served different purposes: the opening sign sets the tone for the scene and the “Cottage” sign sets the location; the “Losing the Baby” sign states the threat the Corporal presents and what Grusha is primarily concerned about; the sign reading “What is the woman afraid of?” provides the audience with a question to think about, forcing them to lay attention as Brecht would want, and the “Truth or Lie?” sign does the same while also giving the audience a glimpse into Grusha’s thoughts; the sign Grusha hits the Corporal with is covered in phrases that serve as her motivation for her saving the baby; and the “Mother” sign represents Grusha’s accepting of Michael as her own while also answering a question presented by the first sign. Who are the good people? Mothers, for one.