REVIEW: Mother Courage And Her Children - The Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester

Bertolt Brecht’s play Mother Courage & Her Children is perhaps, along with The Threepenny Opera, his best-known play. Originally written in 1939 in reaction to the outbreak of the Second World War and subsequently reworked by Brecht between then and 1956, the play is a bleak and often harrowing examination of the effects of war in both the personal and political-economical senses. The new adaptation written by Anna Jordan and produced by Headlong which is staged and co-produced by Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre retains the core story and structure of Brecht’s play but makes some alterations with regards to setting – whereas Brecht’s original is set during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), Headlong’s production is set in the future (the 2080s) where Europe is now known as ‘the Grid’ – but retains numerous elements of Brecht’s concept of ‘Epic Theatre.’

For Brecht, the traditional theatrical mode of naturalism which had come to dominate early 20th century theatre caused audiences to become involved in the fantasy they were watching and, in Brecht’s view, not observing what they were seeing with a distanced, critical perspective. Brecht’s practices sought to break the fourth wall illusion of naturalism and ‘shock’ audiences into remembering they were watching a piece of fiction, a theatrical presentation, and to encourage them to critically think about what the plays were trying to highlight about modern society and to question their place in the world. Brecht’s version of Epic Theatre would feature scene titles and descriptions of what was to be depicted in the upcoming scene, actors playing multiple roles, and songs to break up the illusion of verisimilitude which naturalism sought to conjure.

As an attempt to bring Brecht into the 21st century, this version of Mother Courage & Her Children is, for the most part, successful. It plays out at times like Brecht’s play filtered through the bleak, unnerving vision of Sarah Kane, in particular her shocking debut play Blasted. Amy Hodge’s direction is tight and incorporates signs which descend into the performance space before each scene letting the audience know what scene number we are up to and gives the title of that particular scene (for example, “Scene 7: A Fleeting Peace”), features music composed by James Fortune and performed by Nick Pynn, who is often instructed to play by the character of Mother Courage onstage, and has members of the ensemble announcing what will play out in each scene before signalling to the tech desks to clear the signs ahead of the scene commencing. The lighting and sound design is superb, with the floor of the stage being bathed in a blue light with yellow stars surrounding it before the play begins (obviously locating the play in Europe, or Europe as was), while later in the play (Scene 4: A Need for Shirts) one of the entrances to the stage was flooded by light as sounds of gunfire and screams echoed and members of the cast ran on and off stage in a frenzy, with the elements coming together effectively to create a feeling of chaos and bloodshed occurring offstage.

Most of the cast perform more than role with only Julie Hesmondhalgh as Mother Courage and Rose Ayling-Ellis as the deaf, unspeaking, Kattrin, being the exceptions. As Mother Courage, Hesmondhalgh is bold and brassy in the opening scene as she attempts to sell her wares to the Blue Army, presently engaged in a long war with the Red Army (later in the play, the ‘Yellow Union’ arrives and conflict erupts anew, it is probably no accident that the three colours of the armies are the same as those of the three main British Political parties), and has a very mercurial manner about her (she could easily take over from Jodie Whittaker in Doctor Who, if the production team cast another female in the title role) and brings forth the ruthless business mind of the character to all too real life, as she seeks to profit from the horrors of war. As Mother Courage’s eldest son, Eilif, whose same actions in peacetime as in wartime prove to be his undoing, Conor Glean is suitably imposing as Courage’s most physically able child, responsible for dragging their ice-cream van of goods across the Grid. Simeon Blake-Hall highlight’s the honesty of Courage’s second son, Swiss Cheese, with a winning smile and light tone of voice. Kevin McMonagle gets the funniest moments as the Minister (or ‘Godsquad’ as Mother Courage dubs him) and Hedydd Dylan brings the character of Yvette the prostitute to life – bored of her work, tired of war, seeking release in drug use. Colm Gormley, Tachia Newall, and Guy Rhys all provide solid support as additional characters and ensemble players. Yet the strongest performance of the cast comes from Ayling-Ellis – with Kattrin mostly mute for the play save for whimpers and cries, Ayling-Ellis invests so much in her physical portrayal and in her facial expressions and eyes that she delivers an astonishing performance. She achieves more with no dialogue than many actors attempt to achieve with Shakespearian soliloquies.

There is, however, one criticism which must be laid at this production and that with regards to the number of expletives which strewn the dialogue. While hardly wishing for a return to theatre censorship and the Lord Chamberlain’s infamous ‘blue pencil’ which would cut undesirable dialogue from scripts, there is much to be said about the use of swear words feeling as though they have been ‘earned.’ To provide one example, Scene 5 of the play features a clever juxtaposition of Mother Courage singing an amusing song of how a bird told her how to go about life with the shocking, sudden return of Kattrin who has been attacked with acid and raped. Having lost both of her sons in one way or another, Courage tries to put a brave face on for Kattrin but turns to the Minister and howls an expletive-laden rage. It is a strong moment to end the first half of the play on, but the outburst of obscenities is severely dulled by the constant dropping of f-words from the opening line of the play onwards.

This personal grumble aside, there is much to enjoy in this new version of Mother Courage & Her Children: strong performances and technical design, good music and songs, and a very political commentary on the devastating impact of war and those who wish to profit from it. This production is a political, punky, profanity-laden reimagining of a classic 20th century play.

Reviewer - Andrew Marsden
on - 13/2/19