Mother Dullville (Mother Courage and Her Children - Bertholt Brecht)

Name: kittykat18

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Product:	Mother Courage and Her Children - Bertholt Brecht
Date:	03/11/01 (179 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: ermmm-it's different

Disadvantages: too long

I was unfortunate enough to go and see this play in Sheffield as part of A Level Theatre Studies. I was looking forward to it, after studying Brecht's theories, I twas expecting a refeshing change from the usual theatre experience. Was I wrong, or what? Brecht wanted to challenge his audiences and make them think. He addressed social issues and wanted to bring political thought to the masses. He didn't want the theatrical experience to be realistic, he wanted the audience to always be aware that they were watching a play so that they could think reasonably about the issues involved without emotion getting in the way. Sounds good. Well, that's what I thought as I took my seat. Apart from our small group, the rest of the theatre seemed to be made up of elderly couples, but it was a weekday matinee so that's probably normal.
If this play had a story, I certainly did't grasp it. It is set in the 30 year war and features Mother Courage and her children, going on a journey on their cart.
The performance consisted of lots of songs, not of the musical variety, but more of someone talking to a drum beat. I found it very hard to follow. The actress who played Mother Courage tended to tell you what was going to happen in a scene at the start of a scene. This is a common Brechtian device but I found it very annoying. Maybe I didn't understand the humour in the peice or perhaps it is suited to the older generation as the older people in the audience were laughing a lot.
I will admit now that half of our group, including myself, decided not to return after the interval. Maybe I should have stayed in case it got better (and to get my moneys worth), but I could not face sitting there any longer watching that humourless, soul-less excuse for a play. I feel bad writing this as Brecht is one of the classic Theatrical Practitioners and I like a lot of his ideas, but maybe he should have stuck to theories instead of writing play
s.

Summary: