MODALITYS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE METATHEATRE IN THE CAUCASIAN CIRCLE OF CHALK BY BERTOLT BRECHT

Abstract

The general purpose of the following work is to analyze the metatheatrical characteristics of the play The Caucasian Circle of Chalk (1945) by Bertolt Brecht. To explain the different modalities of the metatheatre, we will consider some theoretical and critical postulates from some Literary Criticism, specially the works by Georges Forestier (1996) and Alfredo Hermenegildo (1999). We will analyze the play by Bertolt Brecht to find out those elements that allow the autoreflection and the exhibition of artifices which are common in theatre. To achieve this goal, we specially consider the uses of two relevant resources: the play within the play and the mise en abyme, and we examine them as the main elements of metatheatre in the play. We finally offer some brief conclusions about how these metatheatrical characteristics work, according to what the very Bertolt Brecht has stated when he referred to the epic theatre. We point out how these strategies that we analyze in this article, help to create a dialectical critical relation between the public and the theatrical show of The Caucasian Circle of Chalk.