Full Circle

A hilarious bravura vaudeville romp! Out of the chaos of high speed capitalism and crashing economies emerges a hapless single woman caring for an abandoned baby. Based on an ancient Chinese fable, Charles Mee’s Full Circle is set in turbulent 1989 East Germany after the fall of Communism. Part uproarious spectacle, part touching fairy tale, the play captures the heartbeat of a world up for grabs. Acclaimed director Robert Woodruff returns to the A.R.T. to stage this ironic, often hilarious romp.

Full Circle was originally produced under the title The Berlin Circle as a world premiere by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, Martha Lavey, Artistic Director, Michael Gennaro, Executive Director.

SYNOPSIS

The year is 1989, the place East Berlin. A performance at the Berliner Ensemble is drawing to a close, watched by Erich Honecker, First Secretary of the Communist Party, and Pamela Dalrymple, a wealthy American tourist.

A group of students burst into the theater and announce that the revolution has begun and the Berlin Wall is falling. Honecker and his wife are rushed from the building, leaving Pamela with their newborn baby.

Pamela employs one of the students, Dulle Griet, as her au pair and childminder. The two women wander through the chaotic streets of Berlin, visiting first the celebrations at the Wall, then the State Museum, where Pamela takes possession of the famous Pergamon Altar. Soon they attract the attention of a pair of guards who identify the baby as Honecker’s and resolve to chase Pamela and Dulle Griet across the rioting country.