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Mother Courage and her Children
'Shoes in bundles and corn in bags...' for Mother Courage (Kathryn Hunter), these are stock items that lead to orders. War (to the roving matriarch) is strictly business - no war, no orders. However, in all wars there are unavoidable losses and the true cost-of-sales can only be calculated long after the dust has settled. In Shared Experience's production of Brecht's (darkly comic) tragedy a large, experienced cast, ensure that the theatre air is filled with not dust but dramatic tension. The director Nancy Meckler) creates a sense of foreboding from the first moment we see the family group to the final scene of tragic solitude at the play's denouement. Initially challenged by a sergeant to identify themselves the reply from the matriarch of the group is brief 'Business folk'. It is only as she breaks into song that she reveals 'It's Mother Courage with her wagon...' in a tone that suggests her reputation precedes her. 'Courage is the name they gave me because I was scared of going broke...' she offers by way of partial explanation. These words prove prophetic as it is this fear that determines her actions throughout the play and leads to her tragic pyrrhic victory. The stage is set for a journey that covers twelve years in as many scenes. It is a stage of muted colours - yellow and blue are used to identify Protestant from Catholic; red is used only or the clothes of the whore Yvette (Rachel Sanders) and to suggest death (Mother Courage and her cart enter and exit scenes below a largely monotone canvas that depicts a grey landscape, black clouds and an ominously red road). Scaffolding towers support large canvas drapes which provide a neutral background to frame the ever present wooden cart of the protagonist. Lighting is low-key but effective. A hand-held spot proves an efficient yet imaginative method to separate the action on the stage when Mother Courage (Kathryn Hunter) is in the kitchen area with Cook (Marcello Magni) while her son Eilif (Nicholas R Bailey) is being commended by the General (Simon Walter) in his tent. Fairground lights are used on the scaffolding and reinforce the sense of theatricality in a production which contains so many song and dance sequences. However, the translation by Lee Hall provides some unnecessary jarring moments. Kathryn Hunter needs all her courage to convincingly say words such as 'get real' (I winced with er), and there were several other occasions where anachronistic language was used inappropriately. The comic elements of the play are also sometimes forced. When in scene eleven, a soldier threatens the Young Peasant's cattle to secure his co-operation Hall has him state 'I knew I had him by the bullocks!' - milking the humour indeed. Hall has Mother Courage and her sons speak in Northern accents while both Catholic and Protestant soldiers are either fellow Northerners or from the Midlands - this works well. But Yvette and Cook are given foreign accents of uncertain provenance which unfortunately they struggle to maintain; Eilif too has a tendency to lose track of his long and short vowel sounds. An unnecessary distraction during an otherwise well-acted play. Perhaps predictably, where Shared Experience stand out as a company is through the imaginative interpretation of the songs and music in Brecht's play. The director uses two accordion players to provide accompaniment to individual numbers from Mother Courage, Eilif, the chaplain and Yvette. This apposite choice of instrument has the additional benefit of suggesting the cabaret music of WWII - a conflict that is never far from our minds as we watch the production (the roving spotlight mentioned above also suggests anti-aircraft searchlights). Other sounds are largely noises-off - cannon fire, gunshots and explosions
constantly remind the audience of the conflict raging behind the prosaic
commercial transactions of the play's eponymous protagonist. The drum
is the only additional instrument seen on stage, and we learn throughout
the play to associate its use with impending death. Mother Courage's
somewhat stupid, but honest son, Swiss Cheese (Francis Lee) is shot
only after the drum-roll ceases. So, in scene eleven, when we see
her dumb daughter, Kattrin (Hayley Carmichael) slip away to the cart
to retrieve her own drum we instinctively feel uncomfortable - especially
as the Peasant (Clive Mendus) and his wife (Rachel Sanders) are praying
to God to save the threatened townsmen at the time. The sounds of
protest, defiance and warning she makes with the instrument are incredibly
poignant when contrasted with her relative Altogether, a strong, enjoyable interpretation of Brecht's masterpiece. The inherent episodic nature of the play is masked by powerful performances especially by Kathryn Hunter and Hayley Carmichael. David Fielder's performance as the Chaplain also stands out. He displays his broad acting range as God's words are replaced by words of war. As the final octave of applause dies down, we are left with the feeling Brecht wanted us to take away from the theatre - war teaches people nothing. Mother Courage might not realise this simple truth but perhaps by now, we should know better. David Tolley |
