Mother Courage and Her Children (Bentley, trans.)

by  Eric Bentley, Bertolt Brecht

Full Length Play, Drama  /  18m, 5f

This German play was written in 1939 and was first produced in Zurich in 1941. In America, it was published in English right away (1941, by New Directions) but did not reach Broadway till 1963 – in a memorable production directed by Jerome Robbins and starring Anne Bancroft. It had, of course, by…

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Mother Courage and Her Children (Bentley, trans.)

by  Eric Bentley Bertolt Brecht

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Mother Courage and Her Children (Bentley, trans.)

  • Cast Size

    Cast Size

    18m, 5f
  • Suggested Use

    Suggested Use

    • Cutting Approved for Competition
    • UIL Approved
    • Competition or audition material

Additional Info

This German play was written in 1939 and was first produced in Zurich in 1941. In America, it was published in English right away (1941, by New Directions) but did not reach Broadway till 1963 – in a memorable production directed by Jerome Robbins and starring Anne Bancroft. It had, of course, by that time been produced to much acclaim all over the world.

When Bertolt Brecht directed the play in Munich (1950), Eric Bentley, Assistant Director, at his bidding started to translate the play into English. He was eventually to make several different English versions of it. The most interesting of these is published here. It was a collaboration with the eminent French composer Darius Milhaud. Together they made this remarkable contribution to musical theatre.

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Keywords

Betrayal, Death, Parenting/Family, War

Considerations

License details

  • Minimum Fee: $125 per performance
  • Optional Music/Media Fee: $15 per performance

Production

Details

  • Time Period: 16th Century / Elizabethan
  • Setting: Sweden, Poland, Germany
  • Additional Features: Play w/ Music

Casting

18m, 5f
MOTHER COURAGE
EILIF, her son
SWISS CHEESE, her son
KATTRIN, her daughter
RECRUITING OFFICER
SERGEANT
COOK
COMMANDER
CHAPLAIN
ORDNANCE OFFICER
SERGEANT
YVETTE POTTIER
ONE EYE
SOLDIER
COLONEL
CLERK
OLDER SOLDIER
YOUNGER SOLDIER
FIRST SOLDIER
PEASANT
SECOND SOLDIER
PEASANT WOMAN
SOLDIER, singing
OLD WOMAN
YOUNG MAN
SOLDIER
LIEUTENANT
OLD PEASANT
FIRST SOLDIER
PEASANT WOMAN
SECOND SOLDIER
YOUNG PEASANT
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Cast Attributes

  • Room for Extras

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Full Package

Piano/Vocal

Scripts

Mother Courage and Her Children (Bentley, trans.)

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Authors

Eric Bentley

Eric Bentley

Eric Bentley was born in England in 1916, became an American citizen in 1948, in 1998 was inducted into the (American) Theatre Hall of Fame, and in 2011 won a gold medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Scholar, critic, teacher, performer, translator and, finally, playwright , he has had ...

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Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956), playwright, poet and director, was born in Augsburg, Germany in February 1898. He established himself as a playwright during the 1920s and early 1930s with plays such as Baal, Man is Man, The Threepenny Opera,  and The Mother. In 1933, as Hitler came to power in Germany, Mr. Brecht fled to S ...

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Mother Courage and her Children was originally produced at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, produced by Leopold Lindtberg in 1941.

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