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Mother Courage and Her Children

Published Monday 28 September 2009 at 11:25 by Heather Neill

Fiona Shaw’s Mother Courage dominates the Olivier stage. Whatever ambivalence may be implied by Brecht about her moral choices, Shaw’s embodiment of the 17th-century merchant matriarch, the ultimate survivor, is so life-affirming as to demand admiration. It is a stunning performance which finds the complexity of Brecht’s most famous creation - while denying acquaintance with her mutilated son Swiss Cheese to save herself and her daughter, her face shows anguish, resignation, pragmatism and defiance all at once.

The outstanding innovation of Deborah Warner’s delayed but exuberant production, in which technicians and costume changes remain in full view, is the music of Duke Special. Dreadlocks flying, he leads his band vocally and on the piano in songs which, softer than Weill, transmit something of the mixture of emotion and sardonic objectivity which are the hallmarks of this modern take on Brecht. The traditional Brechtian signposts are there - the scene headings announced with sonorous authority by Gore Vidal, no less - and the hell of war, especially for the powerless, could not be clearer. Warner has introduced enough anachronisms to underline continued relevance and to chime with Tony Kushner’s admirable translation, which emphasises the religious nature of the Thirty Years’ War and even includes the current preoccupation with “exporting liberty”. But the production is intentionally halfway to a rock gig - this Mother Courage sometimes wields a mic and a general’s tent may collapse to reveal percussion, guitar and saxophone.

Shaw is well supported by a large cast, especially Stephen Kennedy as the pragmatic Chaplain, Harry Melling as dimly honest Swiss Cheese, Martin Marquez as the philandering Cook and Sophie Stone as mute, brave Kattrin.

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