Gorilla Theatre Productions takes a hard look at life during wartime with its showcase production of 'Mother Courage and Her Children' by Bertolt Brecht.
Brecht's masterpiece follows Mother Courage during Germany's Thirty Years War as she struggles keep her children alive and immune from the war's effects. Her livelihood depends on the unending war that she follows from battle to battle, pulling a wagon loaded with merchandise that she sells to soldiers. Interspersed with dramatic songs and vignettes, Brecht gives us a chronicle from the Thirty Years War that reflects on our lives today.
The play has become e specially timely, according to director Ernest L. Williams. “We now stand on the brink of war, with our governmental leadership calling on patriotism, nationalism, and loyalty; it is important to be reminded of the effects of war whatever the outcome. 'Mother Courage' examines those effects and shows that war does not solve problems, it is a show of force or cunning, and the better or "right" doesn't always win; or as Brecht says, 'the common man won't benefit.'”
'Mother Courage' was written at the outbreak of World War II in 1939 while Brecht was in self-imposed exile in Sweden. He hoped the play would be a cautionary tale advising Scandinavian countries to stay out of the war. The play was first produced in Zurich in 1941. Brecht originally left Germany in 1933 after Hitler came to power and only returned after the war.
Gail Bronfman Bunch stars as Mother Courage along with Charles Christesson, Shamika Franklin, Taylor Gass, Joseph Griffin, Jacquie Hernandez, Jeanetta Hobley, Ry Kincaid, Carol Leighton, Tyler Miller, Shannon Peery, Leonard West, Charles White, and Angela Zieber. 'Mother Courage' is directed by Ernest L. Williams and features original music by Daniel Doss.