Notes on “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 4 - In The Northern Mountains

Characters

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator (plus other musicians)
• Grusha, our protagonist
• Michael
• Simon Chachava

Grusha’s family:
• Her well-meaning brother Lavrenti
• His wife Ankio, who is very concerned with reputation
• Their stableman
• Mother-in-law and her “dying” son Yussup

People at the wedding:
• Monk who officiated the wedding
• Mourners/wedding guests/Grusha’s new neighbors
◦ two women
◦ a very old peasant
◦ drunk singing peasant
◦ another man
• Three musicians

Other:
• Children Michael plays with
◦ Tallest boy, the leader of the group
◦ Fat boy who plays the Prince
◦ Girl who plays the Governor’s wife
• Two Ironshirts

Plot synopsis:

This scene covers a period of several years, starting with when Grusha arrives with baby Michael at the farm belonging to her brother Lavrenti and his wife Aniko. She stays with them for several months, recovering from illness and weariness she contacted on her long journey. Lavrenti helps Grusha come up with a lie about where Michael came from and where her final destination is to prevent additional conflict with Ankio, whose supposedly pious nature and deep concern for her own reputation would cause her to immediately through Grusha out if she learned that Michael was not truly Grusha’s child. When Lavrenti fears that Ankio is nearing the end of her patience, he gets Grusha’s permission to set up a marriage between her and a man close to death who lives just over the mountain. The plan was that Grusha would have the land to herself once he died, and she would be free to re-marry with Simon if/when he returned from the war.
At the wedding, Grusha and Lavrenti do their best to hide the child until after the ceremony is complete. After an awkward moment with a drunken peasant, the guests begin gossiping about how the war is now over and the surviving soldiers are beginning to return home, which catches Grusha completely off guard. The dying man, Yussup, also hears some of the conversation, which leads him to get up and start bad-mouthing those around him as if he were perfectly healthy the whole time (he was probably faking illness to avoid being conscripted into fighting in the war). In the following days, Grusha and Yussup are shown to not get along at all, with Yussup calling her a cheater, treating her as less than a person, and referring to Michael as an unnatural bastard. He is aware at this point that Grusha has her heart set on a soldier, and tries to convince her that he’s never coming back.
Months pass, and Michael is now just old enough to play with other kids. They reenact the death of the Governor, with Michael attempting to play the executioner with a wooden sword. He falls over after swinging the sword and runs away in embarrassment, with the three kids chasing after him. Grusha has been casually watching them, but then she spots her old lover Simon Chachava the soldier. Their reunion starts off on a good note, but then Grusha has to tell him that she has been married. When Simon asks her about Michael, seeing his cap in the grass, she tells him that he isn’t her and Yussup’s son, but he is unable to believe her due to the sting of her betrayal. He turns to leave, bitterly, just as the other kids return to announce the arrival of two Ironshirts. The soldiers take custody of Michael but Grusha chases after them, proclaiming that he is her own child, and this leads to the trial in the following scenes.

Notes on “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 3 - The Flight Into the Northern Mountains

Characters

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator (plus other musicians)
• Grusha, our protagonist
• Baby Michael

Fat Prince’s Entourage:
• Corporal
• Two Ironshirts

Other:
• Old man with milk
• Innkeeper
• Two elegant ladies
• Servant at the inn
• Peasant woman and her husband, who Grusha tries to leave Michael with
• Three merchants (two men, one woman)

Plot synopsis:

Grusha is on a long journey to reach her brother in the northern mountains, but Michael proves himself to be a burden. Being exposed to the outside world in such a vulnerable state allows Grusha to come to recognize the evils in the hearts of men. Nearly all the people she encounters put their own needs over hers, from the elegant ladies who sell her out for being a servant to the cowardly peasant woman who fails to protect Michael from the Ironshirts after showing such affection for the baby only minutes before. The fat Prince has sent a Corporal with two Ironshirts to track down the noble child, but despite some close calls, Grusha manages to escape them, proving her own strength and courage. By the end of the scene, she has come to see herself as a true mother to Michael, and that bond not only convinces herself of her own goodness compared to those she’s met, but also seems to be the source of her strength.

Notes for “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 2 - The Noble Child

Characters

Abashvilli family and named associates:
• Georgi Abashvilli, the Governor, who is executed
• Natella, his wife, who is very materialistic and self-centered
• Michael, their young son, who is left behind
• Shalva, the adjutant to the Abashvillis
• The two doctors

Principals:
• The Singer as narrator
• The fat Prince Arsen Kazbeki
• Grusha, a kitchen maid and our protagonist
• Simon Chachava, a soldier who seems to have an interest in Grusha but is separated from her

Others:
• Beggars and petitioners
• Soldiers
• Rider from the capital
• Ironshirts (special kind of guards)
• Architects
• Servants
• Young female attendant
• Cook and chef
• Stableman, nurse, and fat woman

Plot synopsis:

The Abashvilli family goes to Easter mass in the morning, with many beggars and petitioners calling out their woes. This is the first time they have taken their son Michael out in public, which draws a large crowd. The baby coughs, hinting that he may be sick.
Grusha has an encounter with a soldier she knows, Simon Chachava. He throws around various innuendos that Grusha either does not understand or intentionally ignores.
The visiting fat Prince is shown through stage directions to be up to suspicious activity with the Ironshirts. It is mentioned that a war is occurring in Persia.
Later in the palace, a revolt breaks out, and the palace guards are in on it. They arrest the governor and take him away to be executed. In the chaos, Simon tells Grusha that he has been order to accompany the governor’s wife in her escape, and gives her his cross necklace as as a keepsake. Grusha sings a short song, promising to wait for his return.
The governor’s wife insists on taking her most precious material goods with her, even as the palace begins to burn down. In their rush to escape, Michael is left behind. The nurse finds him sleeping and leaves him with Grusha, saying that she’ll return. When Grusha tells this to the others, they say that the nurse is not coming back, and advise her to leave the baby behind; after all, everyone will want to get their hands on the sole heir to the throne. Despite her good heart, Grusha is convinced at first; however, when she is the only one left, she caves in to her conscience and goes back to stay with the child. After waiting some time for someone else to come for him, she decides to take Michael away with her.

Notes for “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”: Scene 1 - The Struggle for the Valley

Characters

Delegates of Galinsk goat-breeding kolchos (right side of the circle):
• Old man (G)
• Peasant woman (G)
• Young peasant
• Young workman

Delegates of Rosa-Luxembourg fruit-growing kolchos (left side of circle):
• Peasant woman (R-L)
• Girl tractor driver
• Wounded soldier
• Old peasant man (R-L)
• Agronomist

Neutral:
• Expert of the State Reconstruction Commission
• Arkadi Cheidze the singer (presumed narrator)

Plot synopsis:

The Galinsk goat-breeding kolchos were displaced from their original valley by Hitler’s armies and are now considering settling in the valley of the Rosa-Luxembourg fruit-growing kolchos permanently. The R-L kolchos would rather that their new neighbors return to their old valley and simply replant the orchards and vineyards. An expert has been called from the capital to help settle the dispute. The R-L agronomist proposes that the valley where the Galinks kolchos are currently settled be used for an irrigation project. The majority of the Galinsk kolchos seem to be in favor of it, though the old man in their group is hesitant. The R-L kolchos reveal that they have invited the famous singer Arkadi Cheidze to celebrate the occasion, who will be putting on a play with the other R-L kolchos acting in it. This will be the main story of the play.

Five Truths Videos Comparison

Stanislavski video

1. Focus on the whole face and lots of quiet moments to see the emotions and let them sink in
2. Birds chirping in the background to add a sense of place and time
3. Different tones of voice to show different emotions

Brecht video

1. Droning from the lights and self narration (she said) to remind you that this is staged
2. Less interested in the items for their sentemental value and more so for their potential use (watch too small, takes the money from the wallet) which is kinda how Bretch views characters (not as real people to get attached to but vehicles for a political/social message.
3. Only focuses on parts of the face (or keeps it in shadow) to avoid being able to fully connect to the character

Stanislavski Wrap-Up (In-class writing)

Stanislavski was a Russian actor who was bored by the overdramatic way actors performed, embellishing made up emotions as in the days of the Romans and Greeks. He wanted to see performances with actors who made their characters seem real, with complex motivations and emotions. This led him to create the now famous Stanislavski method, a way to help actors create and become the characters they were portraying. This kind of acting is called truthful acting.

Part of Stanislavski’s Method is using discovering every character’s super objective (ultimate goal in the pay) and germ (the core of the character). Bulding from there, the actor decides what the character’s objective will be for each scene, and what actions they will take to achieve it. The useful thing about this method is that it allows the actor to picture their character separate from themself, as a real person, rather than just a stereotypical role to perform. Audience members are more likely to relate to, understand, and sympathize with a character who acts like a complete person than a stock or token character. The one major con I see with this method is if a person were to go overboard in developing the character, and then try to shove more unnecessary details into the play than are needed. It is important to remember that, while each character has their own story, they must all fulfill their role in the production, first and foremost.

There is also the practice of emotional memory, in which an actor draws on their own past experiences to bring out real emotion appropriate to the scene. While this technique can be very successful for displaying real emotion on stage, it can be stressful for the actor if they have to draw on a dark time in their past to do it. More problamatic for Stanislavski, it creates a disconnect between the actor and the character, since the way the actor responded to that pas experience is likely at least somewhat different from how the character would respond in their current situation. This is the reason why Stanislavski ended up abandoning this method, though some of his pupils continued to teach it.

Stanislavski’s method was the foundation for what are now the standard acting practices in the modern world. Some actors will go as far as to remain in character even when not performing, a technique called “method acting” after Stanislavski’s method (Stanislavski himself would sometimes go out in public and pretend to be a certain- character). Thus, it is essential to cover his practices when learning about theater.

As a writer, I have always been interested in taking characters from media and expanding on them. Stanislavski’s method is essentially a more guided version of that, with th specific goal of improving the believability of the actor’s performance as a separate character. I will be sure to consider my character’s germ and super objective when stepping into a new role from now on, as a way to decide what kind of performance would be the most truthful.

TIP Notes: Chapter 2 (Bretch)

Bertolt Brecht (1889 - 1956)
Brecht grew up in Germany and lived through both world wars
Wrote “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” in 1955

Brecht’s ideal performance was one that inspired the audience to take action in the real world for just causes, by having the characters deliver a political and social message, with actors building off of the Stanislavski methods.

Vocabulary

• Political = concerning the government of public affairs and the running of the state
• Social = concerning the relationships between people and communities within a country
• Economic = relating to the buying and selling, production and manufacturing of goods, and how wealth is achieved
• Narrating = the telling of a story
• Class = the position a person holds in society based on their wealth, upbringing, and level of education
• Left wing = socialist views; right wing = communist views
• Gestus = a gesture that defines your character’s place in society
• Gestic props = props used by the actor or director to send a specific message to the audience
• Externalization = to outwardly show thoughts and feelings using gestures, movement, and facial expressions
• V-effect = when the actor and director attempt to distance the audience from losing themselves within the context of the play, instead allowing actors to narrate proceedings and communicate the message of the play to the audience
• Epic theater = theater that uses Brecht’s methods and techniques to create teacher with a political, social, and/or economic message
• Historicization = setting the events of the play in a different time period as a way to help distance the audience from the given circumstances
• De-familiarize = a technique for making the audience stop and think about the social implications of the events on stage
• Epization = a rehearsal technique for creating a narrative style for delivering text
• Ensemble = a group of actors performing together
• Choral work = a piece of theater rehearsed with the ensemble performing in time and to the same rhythm

Exercises 

Exercise 20: Use body language and facial expressions to help sell the message rather than relying solely on words

Exercise 22: Political, social, and class issues are still relevant to present today; they may simply be less obvious

Exercise 23: Use characters as a way to discuss those issues without directly stating them

Exercise 24: Use gestures that match the character and externalize their emotions 

Exercise 25: Don’t be afraid to get comedic

Exercise 26: Shift the focus of the audience from the emotions of the character to the societal factors that put them in this position

Exercise 27: A lot can be conveyed about a character with a simple gesture

Exercise 28: When doing a first read through of the play, it is more important that you focus on what happens, who the characters are, and how it makes you feel, rather than immediately attempting to inject characterization in as you go

Exercise 29: Keep in mind what surprised you about the play, so that you can maximize that surprise for the audience when performing

Exercise 31: Doubling parts prevents the audience from associating one actor with just one role; don’t be afraid to use cross-casting to further de-familiarize the audience

Exercise 32: Brecht plays tend to be organized in an episodic structure so that each moment can carry its own message

Exercise 33: Decide on the overall message of the play, as well as a specific gestus that can be interwoven to represent that message, as a group

Exercise 34: Decide on the emotion in which you will read each line

Exercise 36: Consider each character’s perspective on the events of the scene 

Exercise 39: The lighting of a scene can add to both the atmosphere and what it’s trying to get across

Exercise 40: Consider the effect adding sound and music has on the scene

Exercise 41: Have actors try other people’s roles as a way to see different interpretations; consider the physical positioning of the actors