Didactic, dialectical, dull. Common reactions on telling someone you're going to see a Brecht play. Common misapprehensions too. Look beyond the German Marxist tag and you find someone whose lasting fame isn't down to propaganda and entirely due to writing works that are pioneering, entertaining and simply great theatre. In truth we were attracted to this production because a friend was appearing on stage. But the rewards were far greater than simply seeing a familiar face doing her stuff.
How appropriate that we should see this performance on the day that Nicola Sturgeon was putting an attack on inequality at the heart of her government's policies. To quote the play's director, Mark Thomson, "it challenges the immoral and unethical assumptions of today's abhorrent inequality and the rotten, flawed ideals that ensure the continuing shame of a society that allows wealth and power to belong to the few". Which it delivers by way of a parable, a play within a play, a morality tale with clear views of good and bad.
Which some might think sounds like heavy going for an audience, and some would be entirely wrong. The stage is vast open area, the cast make themselves visible and engaged before the play begins, and sets up a scenario in which the boundary between us and them is often blurred. There are songs (the narrator is actually called Singer), the cast bring musical instruments on and play them in character. They also do a lot of their own scene shifting, moving furniture and buckets and gallows and creating imagined spaces that move on the plot. There is a baby made out of cloth which is manipulated wonderfully to become a living being. And there are laughs. Lots of them. Almost everyone on stage has multiple roles and plenty of cross dressing adds to the underlying humour. This never feels remotely like a lecture, this is pure entertainment, with the added bonus of a powerful and contemporary message. Barbara reckoned this was the best play she'd seen in years. She might be right.
Oh, and our friend was pretty good too.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle runs until 14 March.
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