Ah, the sweet smell of fresh meat...the big thespian stork has arrived with several new bundles of joy just waiting to be subjected to the theatre reviewer’s keyboard-bashing. Well, as the week-of-scrutiny kicked off, this brood was clearly determined to please.

Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle is a parable about a young girl, Grusha, who rescues the baby of her fleeing mistress following a coup, during which her master is beheaded and she must hide from the ‘Ironshirts’, soldiers who work for the leading rebel, the Fat Prince. Eventually, the civil war ends, and Grusha wins a custody battle against the biological mother of the baby after she refuses to hurt him by pulling him from inside a circle drawn with chalk. 

The thing about this play is that the complexities of the parable imply that there is a lot going on, when actually it’s quite simple – a comment or two is being made about the flaws of the class system, and a lesson on the qualities of a true, loving mother is being taught. There are moments in Lydia Onyett’s production when it looks as if control of this ambiguous plot is proving rather elusive, but on the whole the cast should be pretty pleased with themselves.

Holly Crook is engaging and endearing as Grusha from the moment she opens her mouth and starts wringing her hands, and makes a very satisfying switch from doormat to heroine when she is at loggerheads with the bewitchingly insane, shrieking Governor’s wife (Rachel Wilkinson). Georgia Ritter’s Jack Sparrow-esque swaying and swaggering as Azdak takes a bit of getting used to but is admittedly effective, and a big hats off to Amrou Al-Kadhi for being bloody creepy as the cowardly, predatory husband to Grusha. The chorus deserves a mention for being confident, assuredly slick and for making the most of their one-liners without taking away from the rest of the action: the spear-wielding Ironshirts also grew on me in the second half, snickering and snarling away like a bunch of playground bullies on the rampage.

There are some things that didn’t quite push my buttons: I’ve got to say, the background music is a nightmare...there’s nothing like the sound of a polyphonic ringtone to kill the mood during a scene of emotional turmoil and indecision.  I was also a little underwhelmed by the scene that the entire play builds up to: more should definitely be made of the chalk circle scene, and using a spotlight for the circle is a bit of a cop-out. I was also confused as to whether the blanket that is fought over is meant to represent the baby, or whether its unravelling was a first-night slip up: as I’m in a cheery mood I’ll go with the former. On that note, the Singer is mostly a steadfast and reliable narrator throughout, but I do think he could pull off his parting lines with a little more decorum: the effect of his omniscient presence is slightly deflated by his sudden scampering down from the railings and skidding into the spotlight. OK, bitching over: it’s not perfect, but there are some faces in here that we’re going to be seeing a lot of in the future, and they can be proud of their debut on the ADC stage.