With the assistance of a brave and brilliant group of young actors, we created magic. I wrote a fabel to precis the play up to scene 5, and then we presented scenes 6 & 7 in full. We then participated in a Q&A with the students. One of the very important alienation techniques I used was to have Mother Courage played by two women.
CAST:
Mother Courage: April Gareffa & Elizabeth Paterson
Chaplain: Daniel Beratis
Clerk: Maddi Moore
Katrina/Soldier: Idha Kurniasih
Soldier/Percussion: Bronwyn Dunston
ARCHIVAL PHOTOS:
FABEL FOR SCENES 1-5:
Actor 7 blows
whistle. Actors march onstage from the
aisles and form 2 lines.
ALL: Huh!
ACTOR 7: 2,
3, 4(Continue until in
final position)
ACTOR 7: (blows whistle) Attention! About
face! At ease!
ACTOR 5: Scenes
from Mother Courage and Her Children!
ACTOR 2: From
the play written by Bertolt Brecht!
ACTOR 3: The
story so far!Actor 4 steps centre
ACTOR 4: Scene 1. Spring 1624.
The Swedish commander-in-chief, Count Oxen.. (stumbles over the word. Actor
3 comes forward and whispers it to her) I know!...Oxensterniara, is raising
troops in Dalecarlia for the Polish campaign.
The canteen women, Anna Fierling, known under the name of Mother
Courage, loses one son. Actor 7 blows whistle and all start marching.
CHORUS: War!
Huh! Yeah! What is it good
for? Absolutely nothing! (whilst marching, the soldiers wheel out
into a line across stage, then march forward, then march backward. Song is sung 4 times). Actor 5 comes forward.
ACTOR 5: Scene 2. In the years 1625 and 1626 Mother Courage
crosses Poland in the train of the Swedish armies. Before the fortress of Wallhof she meets her
son again. She has the successful sale
of a rooster (actor 4 becomes a
rooster. All look at her in disbelief),
and it is the heyday of her dashing son. Actor 7 steps forward. Actors 2-5 fall about in a debauched manner,
singing ‘Born To Be Wild’.
ACTOR 7: Scene 3. (chorus
keep messing about loudly). Scene
3. (chorus
keep messing about loudly and so Actor 7 blows whistle. All stop and sheepishly fall back in line). Scene
3. Three years later Mother Courage is
taken prisoner along with elements of a Finnish regiment. She manages to save her daughter, likewise
her covered cart, but her honest son is killed. Actor 4 lies down and everyone gathers
around the body.
CHORUS: (softly
and sadly) War, huh, yeah. What is
it good for? Absolutely nothing. (2 times)
ACTOR 7: (crossing
to down stage centre) Scene 4.
Mother Courage sings the song of grand capitulation.
ACTOR 2: (knocks
Actor 7 out of the way. Actor 7 joins
Actor 3 stage right)
Back when I was young, I was brought to realise
What a very special person I must be.
ACTOR 5: (fights
with Actor 2 for centre stage throughout this verse) (Not just any old cottager’s daughter,
what with my looks and my talents and my urge towards higher things).
ACTOR 2: And insisted that my soup should
have no flies in it.
No one makes a
sucker out of me!
ACTOR 5: (All or nothing, only the best is
good enough, each man for himself, nobody’s telling me what to do.)
ACTOR 2: Then I heard a bird, Tweet (Actor 4 gets up and joins arms with 3 &
7 and then march across to stage left.
Actors 5 & 2 watch them, confused)
ACTOR 4: Follow the beat!
And you’ll be
marching with the band
In step,
responding to command
And striking up
your little dance:
Now we advance.
And now: parade, form square!
Then men swear
God’ there –
But I know
there’s not the faintest chance!(Actor 5 & 2 separate to down stage left
and right)
ACTOR 5: In no time at all anyone who looked
could see
That I’d learned
to take my medicine with good grace.
ACTOR 2: (Two kids on my hands, and look at
the price of bread, and things they expect of you!)
ACTOR 5: When they finally come to feel that
they were through with me
They’d got me
grovelling on my face.
ACTOR 2: (Takes all sorts to make a world,
you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours, no good banging your head against a
brick wall).
ACTOR 5: Then I heard a bird, tweet. The chorus cross to stage right doing high
kicks as they sing. Actors 5 & 2
watch them angrily.
ACTOR 3,4,&7: Follow the beat!
And you’ll be
marching with the band
In step,
responding to command
And striking up
your little dance:
Now they
advance.
And now: parade, form square!
Then men swear
God’s there –
But I know
there’s not the faintest chance. Actors 5 & 2 come to centre stage in
friendship. The chorus form a line up
stage
ACTOR 5&2: I’ve known people tried to storm the
summits:
There’s no star
too bright or seems to far away.
ACTOR 5: (Dogged does it, where there’s a
will there’s a way, by hook or by crook).
ACTOR 5&2: As each peak disclosed fresh peaks to
come,
It’s strange how
much a plain straw hat could weigh.
ACTOR 2: (You have to cut your throat
according to your cloth).
ACTOR 5&2: Then I heard a bird, tweet. (Actors 5& 2 are dragged into the line
by Actors 4)
ALL: Follow the beat!
And they’ll be
marching with the band
In step,
responding to command
And striking up
their little dance: (all wheel to form two lines)
Now they
advance.
And now: parade, form square!
Then men swear
God’s there – (all turn to face audience
and stop marching)
Not the faintest
chance!
Actor 5 steps to the centre.
ACTOR 5: Scene
5. Two years have gone by. The war is spreading to new areas. Ceaselessly on the move, Courage’s little
cart crosses Poland, Moravia, Bavaria, Italy, then Bavaria again. In 1631 Commander Tilly’s victory at Leipzig
costs Mother Courage four officers’ shirts. Actor 4 steps forward
ACTOR 4: And here is where we pick up the
story. Scene 6. Outside the Bavarian town of Ingelstadt
Courage participates in the funeral of the late Imperial Commander Tilly. Discussions are held about war heroes and the
war’s duration. The Chaplain (indicates Actor 3. Actor 3 crosses stage right, sets up chair
and gives Actor 4 the boa) complains that his talents are lying fallow and
dumb Katrinn…
ACTORS 7: hey!
I’m mute, not stupid!
ACTOR 4: Shhh! …Dumb Katrinn gets the red boots.
ACTOR 5: Should we explain about the boots?
ACTOR 7: They won’t get it.
ACTOR 4: Quiet! This is my bit. I didn’t interrupt you lot.
ACTOR 7: But they won’t understand that bit.
ACTOR 4: Fine! So, young Katrinn has been exploring her
burgeoning sexuality by imitating the camp prostitute, Yvette. (chorus create orgy tableau #1) In scene
three she put on Yvette’s red boots as part of the fantasy. (Chorus create orgy tableau #2) In the meantime Mother Courage has
promised her a husband come peace time. (chorus create wedding tableau). Is that enough?
ALL: (nodding at each other and getting in position) Yes, yep, I think
that should do it.
ACTOR 4: Great. Now can we get back to it? (Chorus
picks Actor 7 back up) Right. The
year is 1632. (crosses to Chaplain and starts playing cards).
ACTOR 5: We are inside a canteen tent. It has a bar.
It is raining and we can hear the drums and funeral music. Mother Courage is doing a stocktake.
Scene 6…
No comments:
Post a Comment