Mother Courage The play is one of the greatest political fables, satirizing the evils of war
As well as suiting the style of the piece, this also meant that lots of our students had the opportunity to play a leading role and display their incredible talents. The performance really showed how well the cast worked together as a team, and once again the student stage crew and lighting operators joined forces to complete a thoroughly professional approach to stagecraft. 'Mother Courage and Her Children' really showed how well Years 7, 8 and 9 can master powerful dramatic acting. But for those who prefer their entertainment light, the good news is that next up for this age group is the supercalifragilistic 'Mary Poppins' in the Summer term!
The 'World Of Wonders' Season of stage shows this year visits masterpiece plays from around the world to allow our student performers and audiences to experience a wide range of stories and perspectives. Years 7, 8 and 9 have spent the last term exploring one of the great German dramatic works, (albeit written by Bertolt Brecht while he was living in exile in the United States): 'Mother Courage and Her Children'. The play is one of the greatest political fables, satirizing the evils of war: the title character continues to profit from her mercenary trade even when she is warned that it will have a terrible personal cost for her family, and the audience is shown exactly what will happen to those who make such a choice. This is certainly a sophisticated topic, but the cast and crew of 30 students have really risen to the challenge! Brecht as a director developed a very distinctive performance style, known as 'Verfremdungseffekt', ("audience distancing" or "emotional detachment"), to encourage the audience members to think with their heads rather than their hearts - the techniques included actors playing multiple roles, the use of placards with slogans and direct address across the footlights. Our production included all these features and more! In our cast, 3 performers played Yvette. 4 played Eilif, 5 played Kattrin, and 9 played Mother Courage herself!
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator