Caucasian Chalk Circle WYP October 14^th

Having been to see a classic ‘beginning middle and end’ play a few weeks previously at the Playhouse, I opted for nice bit of didactic agitprop by one of the centuries best known (but perhaps not best-loved) playwrights, Bertolt Brecht. There are a few knowing lines about not being lectured to, and hoping that the play isn’t too long, but although timed at well over two hours it positively fizzles along. Brecht’s characters are often derided as cardboard cut-outs, simply there to advance his arguments, but I think that does him a disservice. Brecht may not be so caring about stagecraft – he is very demanding of his cast, directors and stagehands – nor does he specifically try to suspend disbelief, but he can tell a story. And in ‘Caucasian Chalk Circle’ there is a well written and engaging story which links a Biblical fable with what seems to be a constant of the modern world. War, devastation, and the fact that the majority of the suffering is felt by the downtrodden urban and rural poor with whom his sympathies so clearly lie.

But in this production you also felt that the central characters were real and you warmed to their struggles, particularly peasant girl Grusha (brilliantly played by Matti Houghton) who rescues the governor’s baby and eventually wins the right to be his adopted mother after many trials and tribulations. James Clyde holds the whole production together, firstly as the singing chorus and then as comic judge Azdak who makes the final judgement when Grusha and the Governor’s wife argue over who should keep the baby. The rest of the cast display brilliant skill in their frequent switches of costume and character - the play is a real test of their abilities – and the baby is astonishingly portrayed by a puppet that is both life-like and unreal at the same time. There may have been some lecturing but you don’t really notice it.

Inherit the Wind Old Vic October 25^th

If you ever wondered why that nice Kevin Spacey was jetting around so frequently, settling into comfy leather seats on the plane at an affordable price, it’s because he is not just a Hollywood star but the artistic director at one of Britain’s oldest and most revered theatres, the Old Vic. Placed a hop and skip from Waterloo station I last went there in 1977 to see McCowan, Tutin, West and Jacobi in a brilliant ‘Antony and Cleopatra.’ It hasn’t changed much but judging by the long queues for returns for a Sunday matinee a bit of star power has helped revive its fortunes. It’s certainly intimate but less run-down than I recall.

Directed by Trevor Nunn, ‘Inherit the Wind’ is a thinly-disguised recreation of the Scopes ‘monkey trial’ in 1925 when a local school master was prosecuted for teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution in small-town America. The trial was taken up by the forces of organised religion and science as a test case, and so attracted two star attorneys to argue the case, which was extensively reported throughout the country.

In the 50s, the play (which was later turned into a successful film with Spencer Tracy and Gene Kelly) by Lawrence and Lee uses the trial as a response to the anti-Communist witch-trials of the time. Nowadays, it stands as a more direct examination on the teaching of creationism in American schools. David Troughton is excellent as Spacey’s opponent, but you do understand why Spacey himself is so acclaimed as an actor. The play has plenty of scope for big speeches and clever one-liners, but you can’t argue with his comic timing and subtle portrayal of a man thirty years older than himself. A treat.