{"id":8276,"date":"2009-09-29T14:40:08","date_gmt":"2009-09-29T14:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8276"},"modified":"2015-11-17T14:44:02","modified_gmt":"2015-11-17T14:44:02","slug":"theatre-review-mother-courage-and-her-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=8276","title":{"rendered":"THEATRE REVIEW: ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mother<\/a><\/p>\n

By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

LONDON \u2013 There is much to admire in the National Theatre production of Tony Kushner\u2019s translation of \u201cMother Courage and Her Children\u201d Bertolt Brecht, especially Tom Pye\u2019s dynamic set design and Duke Special\u2019s inspired music. But it fails to coalesce into the fierce anti-war statement it is meant to be.<\/p>\n

Director Deborah Warner\u2019s pacing might be at fault as the play, made up of 12 scenes over three hours, seems fragmented and some sequences drag. Aside from the poetic songs, Kushner\u2019s language, while pleasingly free of anti-war clich\u00e9s, lacks memorable lines.<\/p>\n

This adaptation was presented first in 2006 at the New York Shakespeare Festival with a series of free performances at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Klein.<\/p>\n

Fiona Shaw, who has won three Olivier Awards as best actress and who plays Petunia Dursley in the Harry Potter films, has the title role of a mother of three children caught up in the 30 Years War in Poland. She brings her usual bravura strength to the part but also perhaps too much swagger in the early scenes that feature her singing, making the resourceful character something of a rock chick (photo below).<\/p>\n

\"4<\/a><\/p>\n

Harry Melling, as her simple son whom she calls Swiss Cheese, and Sophie Stone, as her mute daughter Kattrin, are compelling and Stephen Kennedy, who stepped into the role of the chaplain at the very last minute, gives a fine performance.<\/p>\n

Brecht\u2019s saga of a woman who seeks to not only survive but also profit from constant warfare, sacrificing her grown children in the process, is still powerful. Its bitter argument that chronic warfare suits the powers that be while causing endless suffering to everyone involved, remains thoroughly pertinent.<\/p>\n

Duke Special, a singer songwriter from Northern Ireland with a distinctively plaintive voice who deserves to get a major boost from his appearance in the play, sings the mordant final words that \u201cwar goes on and perseveres!\u201d He is pictured above on the right with Martin Marquez and Shaw.<\/p>\n

Octogenarian U.S. writer Gore Vidal, who provides the narration for the production, underscored the point at the curtain call on first night by reminding the audience from his wheelchair, \u201cand war goes on in Afghanistan.\u201d When he struggled to his feet, the audience responded with a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

Venue: National Theatre; Cast: Fiona Shaw, Sophie Stone, Harry Melling, Clifford Samuel, Stephen Kennedy, Martin Marquez, Duke Special; Playwright: Bertolt Brecht in a translation by Tony Kushner; Director: Deborah Warner; Set Design: Tom Pye; Costume Designer: Ruth Myers; Lighting Designer Jean Kalman<\/p>\n

Photos by Anthony Luvera<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett LONDON \u2013 There is much to admire in the National Theatre production of Tony Kushner\u2019s translation of \u201cMother Courage and Her Children\u201d Bertolt Brecht, especially Tom Pye\u2019s dynamic set design and Duke Special\u2019s inspired music. But it … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,14,16],"tags":[149,383,505,531,585,898,4180,1189],"class_list":["post-8276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-reviews","category-theatre","tag-mother-courage-and-her-children","tag-bertolt-brecht","tag-deborah-warner","tag-duke-special","tag-fiona-shaw","tag-national-theatre","tag-tom-pue","tag-tony-kushner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8276"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8281,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8276\/revisions\/8281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}