Brad Reid is finally living the life he has dreamed of for so long. With an extensive background in creating backgrounds, Reid is all ready to blow the minds of Perth theatre goers with his involvement in the upcoming production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art (PICA). This reinvention of Bertolt Brecht’s masterpiece is sure to prove not only gripping, but also masterfully executed.
The Caucasian Chalk Circle draws its inspiration from an ancient Chinese tale. It recounts the story of a child – born of royal blood – who is rescued by a servant girl from a violent coup. This outstanding piece of classic Epic Theatre climaxes in a surreal competition between the child’s surrogate and biological mothers as they try to determine where the child’s rightful place is.
Reid, who left his hometown of Wynyard in Tasmania at the age of 17, is excited with the upcoming season of The Caucasian Chalk Circle. It is the second piece of theatre Reid has made in conjunction with Black Swan Theatre Company, with his debut last year in the wildly successful The Laramie Project. Now, his second collaboration with director Adam Mitchell sees the pair….
‘…in the process of having the entire amazing, elaborate set being built at the moment. e set itself is quite an intricate piece. We’ve taken it away from the usual Brecht piece which is typically all hay bails and villages. We removed it terribly from that kinda place and instead brought it into a non specific time.
‘For the costumes we’ve taken a very military style and mixed it with something very Edwardian. So it’s a real splice of contemporary, but taking elements from different times to create a real non-specific space. We want the audience to relate to the costuming in that it has a contemporised feel,’ Reid said.
The same degree of relevance applies to the entire piece itself. ‘The Caucasian Chalk Circle is still massively relevant to today,’ Reid explained. ‘We’re still facing wars, coups and such. It’s typical to our time now even though it was written a hundred years ago.’
The Caucasian Chalk Circle opens at the PICA on February 28 and runs until March 16. Visit www.bstc.com.au or www.pica.org.au for more information.
Breaking News: like the last project from Black Swan’s HotBed Ensemble, The Laramie Project, this show has sold out! If you don’t want to be a permanent friend of e-bay, it might be an idea to grab tix now to their next show – Portraits of Modern Evil by Robert Reid, which will be showing at PICA 4-20 Sept.
