The Doncastrian Chalk Circle – Cast Theatre, Doncaster

Charlotte Mills and company performing in The Doncastrian Chalk Circle at Cast, Doncaster. Picture: Ant Robling

The Doncastrian Chalk Circle, a CAST production in partnership with the National Theatre’s ‘Public Acts’ initiative at Cast Theatre, Doncaster.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

With a gargantuan cast of more than a 100 performers, The Doncastrian Chalk Circle – a new musical adaptation from Chris Bush of Bertolt Brecht’s seminal The Caucasian Chalk Circle has been a long time making it onto the stage.

Originally planned for a summer of 2020 performance, but placed on hold due to the pandemic, this collaboration between Cast Theatre, Public Acts and seven local community partners is an ambitious project that brings an impressively talented cast and production team together to tell a tale about chosen family, hope and belonging in spectacular fashion – this certainly wasn’t how I remember the original play when I studied it.

As the show starts, the corps of narrators tell us that ‘People will tell you it’s a bit rough up here… People who hold their noses and roll their windows up. But it’s a good place, good people’, drawing a direct comparison between the newly minted city of Doncaster with the fictional northern town of Nukha in the Kingdom of Grusinia.

Bush’s adaptation leaves the story largely unchanged, however, with thanks to some stunning music from Ruth Chan; compositions such as the lullaby sung to Prince Michael as heroine Grusha decides to rescue him from the approaching troops, and Azdak’s unveiling as the new Judge on the circuit, allow the story to be elevated beyond its roots as a semi-political parable to great effect.

The huge cast means director James Blakey has his hands full logistically at times, but the space is well utilised, making full use of the entire theatre with the added bonus of thrusting the audience into the midst of the war being played out in front of them.

Hannah Sibai’s set and costume design is also a triumph, providing clear demarcation between character groups and events and effective use of staging to take us along Grusha’s journey over the pass. In particular, the drag-gospel-cabaret of Azdak’s courthouse is both a joyous and riotous sight to behold.

This is all tied together elegantly with Gary Clarke’s expert choreography which is again no mean feat with the sheer numbers involved, as well as this being many cast members’ first ever production.

The cameo performance groups including the All That Jazz School of Dance and Acro, Carlton Main Frickley Colliery Band, Sheffield Philharmonic Chorus and local drag queen Miss Smoochie are seamlessly incorporated into the production alongside the musical’s band under direction of Josh Sood. The entire technical team deserves a mention to be honest, but there are too many to mention all by name!

Moving onto the cast, the roles of Grusha (Daisy Ann Fletcher) and Saffiya (Beth Hinton-Lever) are really well cast – with Fletcher being utterly believable as the humble villager forced to choose between what is right and what is easy, and Hinton-Lever as the duty bound officer made to leave her love behind in the midst of the oncoming civil unrest.

John Partridge, as Azdak, stunned the audience with his vocals from the first words sung, as he led the citizens of Nukha in their protests to the king. His transformation into Judge Azdak is something else with sparkly bodysuit, robes and heels, and plenty of ad-libs as well. He had the audience eating out of the palm of his hand. Also worth a mention is Benjamin Armstrong in the role of Kazbeki – who from the upstairs orchestra pit so eloquently and emotively urges the citizens of Nukha to rise up against their neglect.

All in all, this is a passionate retelling of a timeless tale, with songs I’d love to hear again on a Spotify playlist, because once wasn’t enough, and a fully inclusive cast that truly represents the variety of characters involved.  Chris Bush commented: “It takes the whole of Doncaster to tell this story properly and it’s an honour to do so,” but truly, the honour was to watch them do it.

Sara Smith