Mother Courage: Ticketnest

                                                                                         

Mother Courage and Her Children (German: Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) was a play written by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht (1898 - 1956) in 1939 with noteworthy assistance from his mistress at the time, Margarete Steffin. It has later been filmed. He wrote nine plays in total to counter the rise of Fascism and Nazism and this is one of those nine plays. Brecht follows his own set principles for a political drama and for this very reasons the play is not set in modern times but during the Thirty Years' War of 1618-1648. It is followed by the destiny of Anna Frieling, nicknamed "Mother Courage".

She is a cunning canteen woman with the Swedish Army who is firm to make her living from the war. During the play, she sadly loses all three of her children, Swiss Cheese, Eilif, and Katrin, to the same war from which she is determined to get profit. The play can be seen as an example of Brecht's ideology of Epic Theatre and Verfremdungseffekt or "alienation". ("Alienation", nevertheless, is not an accurate translation it could be quite misleading as word “Alienation” proposes that the spectator is actually cast aside from the performance. A more apt translation of Verfremdungseffekt would be "distancing effect" or "to make strange", as Brecht's real motive was to make the viewers separate from familiar situations so that they may think about them dispassionately). Verfremdungseffekt is gained from the use of placards that disclose the events of each scene, juxtaposition and actors changing characters also costume on stage, the use of narration, simple props and scenery.

As an example, a single tree can be used for a whole forest; in addition the stage is normally crowded with bright white light regardless of the fact it's a winter's night or a summer's day. A lot of songs are utilized to highlight the themes of the play. The main action of the play takes place over the course of 12 years that is in the years of 1624 to 1636 and this time span is represented in 12 short scenes. Viewers are given a sense of Courage's career without providing enough time to build up sentimental feelings and empathize with any of the characters. Temporarily, Mother Courage is not portrayed as a noble character, at this point the Brechtian epic theatre sets itself differently from that of ancient Greek tragedies as in Greek tragedies; the heroes way far away from the average people. Similar to this alienating impact, the final scene of Brecht's play does not provoke our yearning to replicate the chief character, named as Mother Courage.

This play was written only in five weeks by Brecht and Steffin. Despite of given such short time it is amongst his Brecht’s famous plays. His work tries to depict the ghastliness of war plus the concept that virtues are not given credit in corrupt times which is obvious through mother courage's children (http://www.ticketnest.com/Children-Family.php ). Brecht made use of an epic structure to enhance this theme in the play so the audience focused on the issues displayed rather than getting sentimental with the characters and emotions. Usually epic plays are of a very divergent genre plus are archetypalof Brecht. In fact, very effectively it could be said that he created the form.

Originally the play was produced in Zurich at the Schauspielhaus. The producer was Leopold Lindtberg in the year of 1941. The music was written by Paul Dessau. Especially the musicians were placed in view of the audience so that they could be seen, the placement of musicians in front of audience this is one of Brecht's many techniques in Epic Theatre. Helene Weigel a famous actress at that time played the title role. This production greatly influenced the making of the Berliner Ensemble that would provide Brecht a location to direct lot of his plays. Brecht died in the process of directing Galileo for the Ensemble.

At present Mother Courage and Her Children have been produced by the Public Theatre in New York City (August-September 2006). The play cherished a new translation by playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America). This production involved new music by composer Jeanine Tesori (Caroline, or Change) plus is directed by George C. Wolfe. The critically acknoledge production stars Meryl Streep as "Mother Courage" along with the supporting cast that counts Kevin Kline and Austin Pendleton. This rare production of Mother Courage and Her Children play to sold out crowds at the Public Theatre's Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. It was considered as the hottest ticket in New York during its four week-run.
For more information about Mother Courage visit: http://www.ticketnest.com/theater-tickets/Mother-Courage/index.php

About the author:
Sara grew up in Kansas and after moving to Carlsbad, CA, relates to Dorothy of the "Wizard of Oz" fame. No surprise that she loves theater including "Wicked". Sara is a staff writer for Ticket Nest ( www.ticketnest.com ) and enjoys writing about her travel, theater and concert experiences. She can be reached at sara@ticketnest.com


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