Der kaukasische Kreidekreis (The Caucasian Chalk Circle)

As she flees, she gets into ever-increasing difficulties, at the end of which she is brought before a court because the governor's wife wants her child back. Times have changed again, now the child is the heir to a great fortune. But shortly before the old rule takes control again, there is a brief period of anarchy during which the judge Azdak rules. His judgments are feared by the rich and a blessing to the poor. So he reinvents Solomon's Chalk Circle in case the biological but heartless mother reclaims her child. The question being negotiated here is as simple as it is politically urgent: Who owns the world? So it is no coincidence that when the Berliner Ensemble was finally allowed to play at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in 1954, Bertolt Brecht was the first to stage the Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Michael Thalheimer will regularly work as resident director at the Berliner Ensemble. His previous productions are documented in numerous conversations, texts and photos in Hans-Dieter Schütt's new book "Michael Thalheimer".