MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN
Graeae Theatre Co. London touring info.: 020 7681 4755
Runs: 2hrs 30m: with one interval
Review: Kim Durham: 13th July 2003
Graeae's training project offers some engaging performances but a confused production
Missing Piece is a new training initiative for disabled performers, partnered by Graeae and London Metropolitan University. This production of Mother Courage and Her Children, touring to venues throughout Greater London, forms part of that programme.
There are some engaging talents on show. Liz Carr, in particular, is a briskly cynical Courage, beadily assessing the economic benefits to herself of the latest turn of events in the War through which she journeys and from which she makes her living. The quickness of her mental calculation is matched only by the speed of her electric wheelchair, which here replaces Mother Courage's iconic handcart.
Kaz Langley and Michael King both impose themselves strikingly; Langley, in a solo movement piece, movingly embodying the struggle and desperation of the camp-following prostitute, Yvette; King, as Courage's Number One son, Eilif, throwing himself gangly-limbed across the stage in a wildly choreographed response to Fat Boy Slim.
Director Jan-willem van den Bosch offers a technically ambitious production that draws parallels between the battlefield of the Thirty Years War and the economic imperialism of McGlobalisation. A large screen dominates the set, on which runs video artists Steph Ungerer and Michael Wilson's constantly shifting backdrop of images. Stock market reports and roadside advertising hoardings offer a sardonic commentary to on-stage events. At one point, in a pastiche of the Marlborough ads, we are offered a war-blasted landscape with the strap line, Welcome to Mother Courage Country.
As the production progresses, however, the contemporary illusions feel increasingly like heavy-handed impositions that never convincingly illustrate or justify their inclusion. The concluding company chorus of Chumbawumba's I get knocked down, but I get up again seems particularly unfortunate. It may work as a rousing paean to cheerful indomitability, but directly contradicts everything that has gone before it. Brecht's play, as well illustrated in Carr's central performance, offers a compassionate but damning criticism rather than celebration of Mother Courage's resilience.
For those of you who, as I do, enjoy Signing as a unique and individual performance art skill, there are two engaging Signers touring with the production, Andrea Newland and Stephanie Cobb.
Mother Courage: Liz Carr
The Cook/Farmer's son: Tahara Azam
Mother Courage (Understudy)/ Chorus: Mandy Colleran
The Broadcaster/Voices: Alex Cowan
Recruiting Officer/ Ancient Colonel/ Officer: Martin Etheridge
Swiss Cheese/ Sergeant/ Farmer: Charles Fennell
Kattrin: Pauline Heath
Eilif/ Soldier: Michael King
Yvette/ Eye Patch: Kaz Langley
Yvette/ The General/ Soldier: Kirin Saeed
Sergeant/ Protester/ Farmer's wife: Sonali Shah
The Chaplain/ Recruiting Sergeant: Adrian Wilks
Signer (Mother Courage): Andrea Newland
Signer (Other Parts): Stephanie Cobb
Director: Jan-willem van den Bosch
Designer: Liz Cooke
Lighting Design: Simon Macer-Wright
Costume: Stevie Stewart
Video Artists: Steph Ungerer and Michael Wilson
2003-07-14 20:54:30