The message of the play is that of the Old Testament story of Solomon’s judgment: two rival mothers are asked to pull their child out of the chalk circle and the impoverished Grusha is too afraid of hurting the child she has looked after since it was abandoned as a baby. The powerful and rich Governor’s Wife, however, has no qualms about mutilating the child she abandoned. Kate Cowdrey as Grusha rose to the challenge of the central role and her beautiful innocence and tender love formed the heart of the play. Grace Cole-Hawkins was the perfect foil, giving an arrogant hauteur to the scene in which she is more concerned to pack her expensive dresses when taking flight than to take her own child.

 

The baby was represented by one of Graham Harris’s cleverly naive cut-out props, which in turn reflected Peter McNiven’s inspired designs based on drawings by 5 and 6-year-old children. This made the appearance of Cranleigh Prep School pupil Adam Duffen extraordinarily touching as the prop became flesh and blood. His chasing the circles of light on the stage was one of many technical devices from Chris Wilson and his team which, along with the haunting music, breathed extra magic into the production. Adam’s delivery of Brecht’s poetry at the end was the final tear-jerker and served to make Brecht’s socialist message more humanitarian than political.

 

A superb Brechtian touch was having the cast in white boiler-suits with their names crudely written on, serving to emphasise that this was a real ensemble; all 31 were stars. Among the familiar faces of past productions were the versatile Jack Church, the affecting Ned Newberry and the charismatic Ian Sekalala and it was tremendous to see IVth formers working alongside them as equals, such as the endearingly hen-pecked Hugo Moxey with his snobbish wife, Hannah Coleridge. Jonathan Oldfield and Tommy Lyster had tremendous stage presence in their double-act as Corporal and Blockhead: two to watch as torch-bearers for the continued excellence of Cranleigh productions.

PJL