The Dispute Over the Valley

Abstract

Conceptions of Bertolt Brecht's own staging of his play The Caucasian Chalk Circle in the “Berliner Ensemble am Schiffbauerdamm” (premiere on 7 October 1954) differ from the performance in Frankfort-on-the-Main (directed by Harry Buckwitz, premiere on 27 April 1955) in this respect, among others, that in Berlin the Prologue was performed, whereas in Frankfort it was deleted before rehearsals began.The Prologue is an integral part of The Caucasian Chalk Circle and the play has never been published without it. In it Brecht shows how two Grusinian Kolchoses settle an argument over the possession of a valley claimed by both villages. The valley is obtained by those who give promise of administering it best, i.e., those who will irrigate it in order to make it produce more fruit.The goat-raising Kolchos “Galinsk” had been evacuated from the valley by a government order when Hitler's armies were advancing.