The Caucasian Chalk Circle

The production responds to the current political situation in Slovakia and focuses on the themes of freedom and justice. The chalk circle that gives the play its title is actually drawn on stage, and as the show goes on it gets smudged and scattered more and more, until it comes to resemble the natural terrain of the Georgian landscape rather than a geometric shape. At the end of the play the actors step out of their characters, speak in their own names and words, refuse to play the written happy ending, and leave both the stage and the country - a gesture that responds to young people leaving home with no sense of a future, but is also a critique of Brecht’s own text, part of which the cast openly takes to task for its propagandistic engagement.

Collaboration with the Dance Faculty

The production also draws on VŠMU’s Music and Dance Faculty: eight dancers join the acting ensemble as performers, and singing and dance become a direct part of the staging. Movement and choreography are handled by Katarína Jungová together with Melánia Ondrejčíková - the same Jungová who has worked with Rotterová on dramaturgy since their very first production, Silenced.

In her own words

“What matters to us are the students - or rather the young people who are leaving Slovakia, who perhaps no longer see a reason to stay. That’s the basic layer behind the suitcases.”

“Theatre should be engaged, political. The audience should keep a certain distance and leave the theatre fired up - wanting to change something.”

• Patrícia Rotterová, Rob divadlo! podcast

Awards

Best Female Dramatic Acting Performance - Eva Gribová (Reflektor magazine awards for the 2024/2025 season)

Festival appearances

Istropolitana Project (Bratislava, 6 May 2025) - an international competitive student theatre festival held every two years by the VŠMU Theatre Faculty, the only festival in Slovakia that brings theatre schools from different countries together in a main competitive program.

Encounter (Brno, 1-5 April 2025) - an international festival of theatre schools organized by students of the JAMU Theatre Faculty in Brno.