The city burns in the heat of civil war and a servant girl sacrifices everything to protect an abandoned child. But when peace is finally restored, the boy's mother comes to claim him. Calling upon the ancient tradition of the Chalk Circle, a comical judge sets about resolving the dispute. But in a culture of corruption and deception, who wins? Written by the grand master of storytelling and peopled with vivid and amusing characters, this is one of the greatest plays of the last century.

This Caucasian Chalk Circle is translated by award-winning writer Alistair Beaton, who also wrote the bitingly witty stage play Feelgood and the celebrated TV dramas The Trial of Tony Blair and A Very Social Secretary. The play was toured by Shared Experience in 2009.

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists whose writing has had a major influence on the theatre. His landmark plays include The Threepenny Opera, The Life of Galileo and Mother Courage and her Children.

Alistair Beaton's plays and translations include Feelgood, King of Hearts and Follow My Leader and Max Frisch's The Arsonists. For television, he wrote the award-winning A Very Social Secretary (2005) and the Channel 4 film The Trial of Tony Blair (2007).