Mother Courage and Her Children has been one of my favorite shows we’ve seen. To be honest, I had no clue what it was about going into it and anticipated being bored watching the show. It ended up being quite the opposite of that, and I enjoyed it so much. I’ve never seen a play by Brecht, but after seeing this show, I feel like I would like more of his stuff. Where we were standing was also so good, (despite the part where I almost passed out and threw up). I think that made me very engaged in the story. I really liked all the modernization used in this play even though it takes place in a time of war. The Globe Theatre doesn’t really have room for them to work with lighting, so they really have to hone in on other elements like sound and visuals to create the illusions.
Right when the show ended, my immediate response was that I really liked it, but I couldn’t develop deep thoughts about it. After sitting with it and giving it more thought, I really saw how much deeper meaning this play has. I think my favorite question is if Mother Courage is actually courageous or not. I don’t think she’s courageous at all. I believe she’s selfish and only actually cares about herself. I just think she wants to make money and be the last one standing. All of her kids died protecting something, and she ironically wasn’t there for any of them. She didn’t grieve any of their deaths and showed no emotion, and I feel like it comes from Mother Courage seeing it as a sign of weakness. She was an avoider and used comedy as a defense mechanism.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this play; however, I think that the word “courage” led me in a different direction. And honestly that might’ve been the intention. Unfortunately in this show, the system ruled above all, and it caused people to act in survival mode. The system was broken, so therefore everyone else was broken too.
Theatre in London U of A 