The Caucasian Chalk Circle (with notes)

Bertolt Brecht's celebrated drama, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, is a masterful example of his revolutionary Epic Theatre, written while in American exile during World War II. Framed by a modern prologue concerning a land dispute in Soviet Georgia, the play recounts an ancient parable: a peasant girl named Grusha rescues an abandoned aristocratic baby, Michael, and raises him as her own. The narrative culminates in a trial before the corrupt, yet instinctively just, Judge Azdak, who must determine the true parent using the method of the chalk circle. This edition, complete with comprehensive notes and commentary, illuminates Brecht's core Marxist theme—that things should belong to those who will put them to the best use.