Mother Courage and Her Children is a play written in 1939 by the
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
dramatist and poet
Bertolt Brecht' was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner...
(1898–1956) with significant contributions from
Margarete SteffinMargarete Emilie Charlotte Steffin was a German actress and writer, one of Bertold Brecht's closest collaborators, as well as a prolific translator from Russian and Scandinavian languages.Born to a proletarian family, at the age of fourteen she went to work for the phone company but her interest...
. After four very important theatrical productions in Switzerland and Germany from 1941 to 1952—the last three supervised and/or directed by Brecht—the play was filmed several years after Brecht's death in 1959/1960 with Brecht's widow and leading actress,
Helene WeigelHelene Weigel was one of the outstanding actors of her generation. She was the second wife of Bertolt Brecht, and together they had a son Stefan....
.
Mother Courage is considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century, and perhaps also the greatest anti-war play of all time.
Context
Mother Courage is one of nine plays that Brecht wrote in an attempt to counter the rise of
FascismFascism, , comprises a radical and authoritarian nationalist political ideology and a corporatist economic ideology developed in Italy. Fascists believe that nations and/or races are in perpetual conflict whereby only the strong can survive by being healthy, vital, and by asserting themselves in...
and
NazismNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
. Written largely in response to the
invasion of Poland (1939)The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II...
by the German armies of
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
, Brecht wrote
Mother Courage in what writers call a "white heat"—in a little over a month. As leading Brecht scholars Ralph Manheim and John Willett wrote:
- Mother Courage, with its theme of the devastating effects of a European war and the blindness of anyone hoping to profit by it, is said to have been written in a month, judging by the almost complete absence of drafts or any other evidence of preliminary studies it must have been an exceptionally direct piece of inspiration.
| "Brecht's genius was to mix humor in the great tragedies |
| - not always, but as a contrast." |
| Therese Giehse, 1968. |
Following Brecht's own principles for
political dramaA political drama can describe a play, film or TV program that has a political component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing a politician or series of political events. Dramatists who have written political dramas include Aaron Sorkin, Robert Penn Warren, Sergei...
, the play is not set in modern times but during the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
of 1618–1648. It follows the fortunes of Anna Fierling, nicknamed "
Mother CourageMother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
", a wily
canteenCanteen has several different meanings:*Canteen , a water container*Canteen , a private cafe, restaurant, or cafeteria at a school, office, or military base. *Canteen , a collection of cutlery...
woman with the
Swedish ArmyThe Swedish Army is the army branch of the Swedish Armed Forces, the military of Sweden.- Organization :The peace time organization of the Swedish Army is divided into a number of regiments for the different branches. The number of active regiments has been reduced since the end of the Cold War:-...
who is determined to make her living from the war. Over the course of the play, she loses all three of her children, Swiss Cheese, Eilif, and Kattrin, to the same war from which she sought to profit.
Overview
The name of the central character, Mother Courage, is drawn from the picaresque writings of the seventeenth-century German writer,
GrimmelshausenHans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen was a German author.Grimmelshausen was born at Gelnhausen. At the age of ten he was kidnapped by Hessian soldiery, and in their midst tasted the adventures of military life in the Thirty Years' War...
, whose central character in the early short
novelA novel is a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
,
The Runagate CourageMother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
, also struggles and connives her way through the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
in Germany and Poland, but otherwise the story is mostly Brecht's, in collaboration with Steffin.
The action of the play takes place over the course of 12 years (1624 to 1636), represented in 12 scenes. Some give a sense of Courage's career without being given enough time to develop
sentimentalSentimentality is both a literary device used to induce a tender emotional response disproportionate to the situation, and thus to substitute heightened and generally uncritical feeling for normal ethical and intellectual judgments, and a heightened reader response willing to invest previously...
feelings and
empathizeEmpathy, which literally translates as 'in feeling', is the capability to share and understand another's emotions and feelings. It is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes".-Etymology:...
with any of the characters. Meanwhile, Mother Courage is not depicted as a noble character – here the Brechtian epic theatre sets itself apart from the ancient Greek tragedies in which the heroes are far above the average. With the same alienating effect, the ending of Brecht's play does not arouse our desire to imitate the main character, Mother Courage.
Mother Courage is among Brecht's most famous plays, and has been called by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century. His work attempts to show the dreadfulness of war and the idea that virtues are not rewarded in corrupt times. He used an epic structure so that the audience focuses on the issues being displayed rather than getting involved with the characters and emotions. Epic plays are of a very distinct genre and are typical of Brecht; a strong case could be made that he invented the form.
Mother Courage as Epic Theatre
Mother Courage is an example of Brecht's concepts of Epic Theatre and
Verfremdungseffekt or "alienation". ("Alienation", however, is something of a misleading translation, for it suggests that the audience are actively cut off from the performance. A more accurate translation of
Verfremdungseffekt is "distancing effect" or "to make strange", or better yet "defamiliarization", since Brecht's intention was to set the audience apart from familiar situations so that they may think about them objectively).
Verfremdungseffekt is achieved through the use of placards which reveal the events of each scene, juxtaposition, actors changing characters and costume on stage, the use of narration, simple props and scenery. For instance, a single tree would be used to convey a whole forest, and the stage is usually flooded with bright white light whether it's a winter's night or a summer's day. Several songs, interspersed throughout the play, are used to underscore the themes of the play, while making the audience think about what the playwright is saying.
Roles
- Mother Courage
- Kattrin, her mute daughter
- Eilif, her oldest son
- Swiss Cheese, her youngest son
- Recruiting Officer
- Sergeant
- Cook
- Swedish Commander
- Chaplain
- Ordinance Officer
- Yvette Pottier
- Man with the Bandage
- Another Sergeant
- Old Colonel
- Clerk
- Young Soldier
- Older Soldier
- Peasant
- Peasant Woman
- Young Man
- Old Woman
- Another Peasant
- Another Peasant Woman
- Young Peasant
- Lieutenant
- Voice
Synopsis
The play is set in the 1600s in Europe during the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
. The Recruiting Officer and Sergeant are introduced, both complaining about the difficulty of recruiting soldiers to the war. A canteen woman named
Mother CourageMother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
enters pulling a cart that she uses to trade with soldiers and make profits from the war. She has three children, Eilif, Kattrin, and Swiss Cheese. The sergeant negotiates a deal with
Mother CourageMother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
while Eilif is led off by the recruiting officer. One of her children is now gone.
Two years from then, Mother Courage argues with a Protestant General's cook over a
caponA capon is a castrated male chicken.Caponisation produces a bird prized for its tenderness, and takes the stringiness out of a male chicken's meat....
, or chicken. At the same time, Eilif is congratulated by the General for killing peasants and slaughtering their cattle. Eilif and his mother sing "The Song of the Girl and the Soldier."
Mother CourageMother Courage is a character from a Grimmelshausen novel Lebensbeschreibung der Ertzbetrügerin und Landstörtzerin Courasche dating from around 1670...
scolds her son for taking risks that could have gotten him killed and slaps him across the face.
Three years later, Swiss Cheese works as an army paymaster. The camp prostitute, Yvette Pottier, sings "The Fraternization Song." Mother Courage uses this song to warn Kattrin about involving herself with soldiers. Before the Catholic troops arrive, the Cook and Chaplain bring a message from Eilif. Swiss Cheese hides the regiment's paybox. Mother Courage & co. hurriedly switch their insignia from Protestant to Catholic. Swiss Cheese is captured by the Catholics while attempting to return the paybox to his General. Mother Courage deals her cart to get money to try and barter with the soldiers to free her son. Swiss Cheese is shot anyway. To acknowledge the body could be fatal, so Mother Courage does not acknowledge it and it is thrown into a pit.
Later, Mother Courage waits outside of the General's tent and sings the "Song of Great Capitulation" to a young soldier waiting for the General as well. The song offends the soldier and Mother Courage decides she does not want to complain.
When Catholic General Tilly's funeral approaches, Mother Courage discusses with the Chaplain about whether the war will continue. The Chaplain then suggests to Mother Courage that she marry him, but she rejects his proposal. Mother Courage curses the war because she finds Kattrin disfigured after collecting more merchandise.
At some point about here Mother Courage is again following the Protestant army.
Two peasants wake Mother Courage up and try to sell merchandise to her while they find out that peace has broken out. The Cook appears and creates an argument between Mother Courage and the Chaplain. Mother Courage departs for the town while Eilif enters, dragged in by soldiers. Eilif is executed for killing peasants but his mother never finds out. When the war begins again, the Cook and Mother Courage start their own business.
The seventeenth year of the war marks a point where there is no food and no supplies. The Cook inherits an inn in Utrecht and suggests to Mother Courage that she operate it with him, but he refuses to harbor Kattrin. It is a very small Inn. Mother Courage will not leave her daughter and they part ways with the Cook. Mother Courage and Kattrin pull the wagon by themselves.
The Catholic army attacks the small Protestant town of Halle while Mother Courage is away from town, trading. Kattrin is woken up by a search party that is taking peasants as guides. Kattrin fetches a drum from the cart, climbs onto the roof, and beats it in an attempt to awake the townspeople. Though the soldiers shoot Kattrin, she succeeds in waking up the town.
Early in the morning, Mother Courage sings to her daughter's corpse, has the peasants bury her and hitches herself to the cart. The cart rolls lighter now because there are no more children and very little merchandise left.
Performances
The play was originally produced in
ZürichZürich or Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. The city is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre and sometimes called the Cultural Capital of Switzerland, the political capital of Switzerland being Berne...
at the
SchauspielhausThe Schauspielhaus Zürich is one of the most prominent and important theatres in the German-speaking world. It is also known as "Pfauenbühne" after its location on the Pfauen Square in Zürich, Switzerland. The large theatre has 750 seats...
, produced by Leopold Lindtberg in 1941. Music was written by
Paul DessauPaul Dessau was a German composer and conductor.- Biography :Dessau was born in Hamburg into a musical family...
. The musicians were placed in view of the audience so that they could be seen, one of Brecht's many techniques in Epic Theatre.
Therese GiehseTherese Giehse was a German actress. Born in Munich to German-Jewish parents, she first appeared on the stage in 1920. She became a major star on stage, in films, and in political cabaret...
, (a well-known actress at the time) took the title role.
The second production of
Mother Courage took place in then
East BerlinEast Berlin was the name given to the eastern part of Berlin between 1949 and 1990. It consisted of the Soviet sector of Berlin that was established in 1945. The American, British and French sectors became West Berlin, a de facto part of West Germany. Despite its status as part of an occupied city,...
in 1949, with Brecht's (second) wife
Helene WeigelHelene Weigel was one of the outstanding actors of her generation. She was the second wife of Bertolt Brecht, and together they had a son Stefan....
, his main actress and later also director, as Mother Courage. This production would highly influence the formation of Brecht's company, the
Berliner EnsembleThe Berliner Ensemble is a German theatre company established by playwright Bertolt Brecht and his wife, Helene Weigel in January 1949 in East Berlin...
, which would provide him a venue to direct many of his plays. Brecht died directing
Galileo for the Ensemble. Brecht revised the play for this production in reaction to the reviews of the Zürich production, which empathized with the "heart-rending vitality of all maternal creatures." Even so, he wrote that the Berlin audience failed to see Mother Courage's crimes and participation in the war and focused on her suffering instead.
The next production (and second production in Germany), was directed by
Brecht' was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director. An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the Berliner...
at the
Munich KammerspieleThe Munich Kammerspiele is a successful German language theatre in Munich. The Schauspielhaus in the Maximilianstrasse is the major stage.-History:...
in 1950, with the original Mother Courage, Therese Giehse, with a set designed by Theo Otto (see photo, above.)
In Spanish, was premiered in 1954 in
Buenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital, and largest city, of Argentina, currently the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the eastern shore of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
with Alejandra Boero and in 1958
MontevideoMontevideo is the largest city, the capital and chief port of Uruguay. Montevideo is the only city in the country with a population over 1,000,000...
with
China ZorrillaChina Zorrilla is a Silver Condor award winning Uruguayan theater, film and TV actress....
.
In 1955,
Joan LittlewoodJoan Maud Littlewood was a British theatre director, noted for her work in developing the left-wing Theatre Workshop...
's
Theatre WorkshopTheatre Workshop is a theatre group noted for their director, Joan Littlewood. Many actors of the 1950s and 1960s received their training and first exposure with the company...
gave the play its London première, with Littlewood performing the title role. In 1995/6,
Diana RiggDame Enid Diana Elizabeth Rigg DBE is an English actress. She is probably best known for her portrayals of Emma Peel in The Avengers and Countess Teresa di Vicenzo in the 1969 James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service....
was awarded an
Evening StandardThe London Evening Standard is a free local daily newspaper, published in tabloid format in London, England. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the southeast of England, with coverage of national and international news and a strong emphasis on City of London finance...
Theatre Award for her performance as
Mother Courage, directed by
Jonathan KentJonathan Kent is an English theatre director and opera director. He is best known as a director/producer partner of Ian McDiarmid at the Almeida Theatre fron 1990 to 2002....
, at the
Royal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company....
.
From August to September 2006,
Mother Courage and Her Children was produced by the Public Theatre in New York City with a new translation by playwright
Tony KushnerTony Kushner is an American playwright and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1992 for his play, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, and co-authored with Eric Roth the screenplay for the 2005 film, Munich.-Early years:Kushner was born in Manhattan, New York...
(
Angels in AmericaAngels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes is a play in two parts by American playwright Tony Kushner. It has been made into both a television miniseries and an opera by Peter Eötvös.-Characters:...
). This production included new music by composer
Jeanine TesoriJeanine Tesori is an American musical arranger and composer who won the 1999 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music in a Play for Nicholas Hytner's production of Twelfth Night at Lincoln Center and the 2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music for Caroline, or Change.Tesori made her Broadway...
(
Caroline, or ChangeCaroline, Or Change is a through-composed musical with book and lyrics by Tony Kushner and score by Jeanine Tesori that combines spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, and Jewish Klezmer and folk music.-Production history:...
) and was directed by
George C. WolfeGeorge Costello Wolfe is an American playwright and director of theater and film.-Early life:Wolfe was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, to Costello Wolfe, a government clerk, and Anna Lindsey, an educator...
.
Meryl StreepMary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress who has worked in theatre, television, and film. She is widely regarded as one of the most talented and respected movie actors of the modern era....
played "Mother Courage" with a supporting cast that included
Kevin KlineKevin Delaney Kline is an American theatre and film actor. He has won one Academy Award, two Tony Awards and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2009.-Early years:...
and
Austin PendletonAustin Pendleton is an American film, television, and stage actor, a playwright, and a theatre director and instructor.-Biography:...
. This rare production of
Mother Courage and Her Children was free to the public and played to full houses at the Public Theatre's Delacorte Theatre in Central Park. It ran for four weeks.
This same Tony Kushner translation was performed in a new production at London's
Royal National TheatreThe Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company....
between September and December 2009, with
Fiona ShawFiona Shaw, CBE is a leading Irish actress and theatre director. Although to international audiences she is probably most familiar for her minor role as Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films, she is regarded as one of the finest classical actresses of her generation...
in the title role, directed by
Deborah WarnerDeborah Warner CBE is a British director of theatre and opera known for her interpretations of the works of Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Georg Büchner, and Henrik Ibsen, and for her long-term working relationship with the actress Fiona Shaw....
and with new songs performed live by
Duke SpecialDuke Special, real name Peter Wilson, is a songwriter and performer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A piano-based songwriter with a romantic style and a warm, distinctly-accented voice, he has a distinctive look, with his long dreadlocks, eyeliner and outfits he describes as "hobo chic"...
.
Popular Culture
In the Tony Award-winning musical
UrinetownUrinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and petty small town politics. It also is a satire of the...
, the character of Penelope Pennywise is roughly based on Mother Courage.
The popular rock band
My Chemical RomanceMy Chemical Romance is a Grammy-nominated American rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, bassist Mikey Way, guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro and drummer Bob Bryar. Shortly after forming, the band signed to Eyeball Records and released their...
created the character "Mother War" for their third album
The Black ParadeThe Black Parade is the third studio album by the rock quintet My Chemical Romance. Released in October 23, 2006 through Reprise Records, it was produced by Rob Cavallo, who has also produced albums for Green Day...
. The song a highly conceptual work on the nature of modern life. Mother War's song, "Mama" is influenced by themes from Mother Courage and Her Children, including the effect of war on personal morals.
Mother Courage also has similarities to the popular musical,
Fiddler on the RoofFiddler on the Roof is a musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and book by Joseph Stein, set in Tsarist Russia in 1905. It is based on Tevye and his Daughters and other tales by Sholem Aleichem...
; in both stories, a parent has three children he/she sees taken from him/her by outside forces; in both stories the central character ends by dragging his/her cart on as the final curtain falls. And both productions made use of a massive revolving stage. As Matthew Gurewitsch wrote in
The New York Sun, "Deep down, Mother Courage has a lot in common with Tevye the Milkman in
Fiddler on the Roof. Like him, she's a mother hen helpless to protect the brood."