I don’t believe this idea was effective in Mother Courage and Her Children. This is also partially to do with the setup of the Globe Theater, especially as a groundling. The play included a lot of character work within it, as members of the cast would make eye contact with audience members, point, and have small interactions, and even use them as elements of a joke every once in a while. When it comes to the actual writing of the story, I also feel that there is a strong connection between the reader and the characters, as the characters have a very colloquial tone and seem very uniquely human.
Now that the assignment is out of the way, oh my god. Words cannot describe how much I loved this play. I have never cried this hard at a piece of theater in my life, and I can say with absolute certainty that this play, in this specific production, is my favorite theatrical production I’ve ever seen.
This show was not at all what I expected. To be honest, I was expecting something boring. I knew nothing about the show or about Brecht coming into it, so the title and posters alone led me to believe it would be more of a period piece, centered around family life issues and a “caged bird” trope. Not to say that those can’t be interesting, but I’ve seen them before. I was wonderfully surprised by this show. Not only did the plotline surprise me, but the technical elements and setting did too.
One of the standout parts of the show to me was the costuming choices. They were so beautifully put together and so well chosen for each character.
This is a show that I have not stopped thinking about since I saw it. I truly feel like this was a piece of theater that permanently affected my brain, and I’m tearing up now just thinking about it. I want to see it again. I don’t usually want to see plays again.
Theatre in London U of A 