O.C. STAGE REVIEW : Engrossing, Timely ‘Chalk Circle’ : UCI’s theatrical staging and individual performances fulfill the promise of Bertolt Brecht’s epic parable. The play continues today through Jan. 26.

First impressions, especially in the theater, too often are unreliable impressions. Playgoers take their seats and gaze with admiration on the promising set. The details are masterful, the atmosphere evocative. Then the drama itself begins, and it becomes painfully clear that both play and players are not up to the scenery.

But when the promise of first impressions is fulfilled, as happens many times over with UC Irvine’s magnificently conceived and marvelously executed production of “The Caucasian Chalk Circle,” all those old letdowns are nearly forgotten, all those dull evenings redeemed. The theater again becomes a living idea filled with relevance and significance and--not least--with pleasure.

It would have been difficult Thursday night for any play, no matter how vigorous or riveting, to compete with the high drama of the Persian Gulf War. Yet, Bertolt Brecht’s so-called epic parable, written during World War II, seemed as germane a commentary as anything being broadcast.

Brecht, choosing “the temptation of goodness” as his ironic theme, describes the conflagration of a civil war and tells the story of Grusha, an innocent servant girl who saves an infant abandoned by his mother, the Governor’s witchy wife, Natella Abashwili, during her panicked flight from the royal palace.

Pursued through the war-torn countryside by the Iron Shirts, Grusha endures all sorts of hardships to protect the child whom she comes to love as her own. When she finally is captured, after the departure of her fiance for the battle front and a forced marriage to someone else, she must face the ultimate test of motherhood in court, where the roguish judge Azdak presides. Azdak, who dominates the second act, is a paradoxical figure. Elevated to judge by the Iron Shirts from his lowly post of village recorder, he metes out justice while guzzling drunkenly from his wine bottle. With one hand pounding an oversized gavel and the other held out for bribes (“You want justice, but do you want to pay for it? When you go to a butcher, you know you have to pay.”), he dispenses a wily, vernacular wisdom that sounds suspiciously like Brecht’s own.

But as engrossing as the story is, “The Caucasian Chalk Circle” needs the right performance style to succeed. At UCI, this is provided not only by the highly theatrical staging, with its utilization of a very physical amalgam of realistic and schematized acting, but also by the aptly imaginative use of props both to eliminate the usual guise of illusion and to heighten the atmosphere of make-believe.

Apart from the scenic backdrop, which looks like somebody has rifled some giant closet of props and spread them out against the wall, this production achieves an open theatrical form through the support of an original score performed live on piano, xylophone and drums that meshes beautifully with the spectacle. The vivid masks and costumes are, moreover, all that one could ask for.

Jane Spigarelli gives a sterling performance as the innocent Grusha. Jon Sidoli plays Azdak with the appropriate vulgarity. And Dudley Knight provides a steady, effective presence as the narrator. Among the rest of the large cast--there are nearly two dozen players--Lynn Watson is notable as Natella and Phil Tabor as the Fat Prince.

‘THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE’

A production of Bertolt Brecht’s play at UC Irvine. Directed by Eli Simon. Set by Lucia Cipriano. Costumes by Sandra Sykora. Lighting by Merritt S. Crosby. Music by Paul Hodgins. Suzuki training by Kent Kirkpatrick. With Jane Spigarelli, Michael Robinson, Jon Sidoli, Dudley Knight, Lynn Watson, Phil Tabor, Dana P. Crouch, Paul Tifford Jr., Greg Krosnes, Mark Drake, Doyle Ott, Sonya Sweeney, Trent Bright, Buck Stevens, Brian Evans, Maura Vincent, Bryant Rolle, Alicia Welch, Tamiko Washington, Beth Stinson, Stephanie St. John, Gary San Angel. At the Fine Arts Concert Hall on the UCI campus. Performances continue today 2 and 8 p.m.; Jan. 22 to 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets: $10 to $14. Information (714) 856-6616.