Mother Courage
and her Children
by Bertolt Brecht

BERTOLT BRECHT (1898-1956)

Bertolt Brecht's fame continues to increase both as a great dramatist, and as a leader in thought, stagecraft theory and practice. He was born in Augsburg, Germany and studied medicine and the sciences before embarking upon his literary career. During World War I he began writing poems, short stories and reviews for the Augsburger Volksville. He later became a stage director for the Kammerspiele Theatre in Munich. For the Kammerspiele, which was his first contact with theatre, he wrote several plays. During the period he was with Max Reinhardt. Brecht's first successful play was "Drums in the Night" (Munich 1922), which was presented throughout Germany until 1933 when the association with Reinhardt terminated. The years with Reinhardt were productive, with such plays as "In the Cities," "Edward II," "A Man's a Man," and "The Threepenny Opera." "The Threepenny Opera" was presented in 1928 at the "Am Schiffbauredamn" Theatre and has since been filmed and played successfully throughout the world. Brecht left Germany in 1933, not to return until 1949 when he established his famous Berliner Ensemble Theatre. The first play at the Berliner was "Mother Courage and Her Children," written in 1938. The Berliner Ensemble Theatre is still active today. It is directed by actress Helene Weigel, Bertolt Brecht's wife. Along with "Mother Courage and Her Children," other plays presented were and are "Galileo," "Trumpets and Drums," "The Caucasian Chalk Circle," "Cariolanus" and "The Good Woman of Setzuan." Brecht's formidable reputation as a director and leader in the theory and practice of stagecraft keep his books "Theaaterarbeit," "The Little Organum for the Theatre" and "Dialektik auf dem Theatre" among the most important in dramaturgy.

In the early seventeenth century, Germany consisted of small secular and ecclesiastic states, independent duchies and independent cities, all of these part of the Holy Roman Empire under the rule of the Habsburgs. The countries that were then the Holy Roman Empire are today parts of Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, and the whole of Belgium. The Thirty Years War (1618-1648) was a religious struggle between the Protestant Princes of Northern and Middle Germany and Catholic Germany headed by the Habsburg Emperor. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden championed the Protestant cause while France intervened in favor of the Catholics. More than half of the German nation was wiped out in the Thirty Years War, one of the most disastrous in all history.
 

PART 1

SCENE 1

During a discussion on the open road between a feldfebel¹ and a recruiting soldier who have waylaid a victim, they agree that war brings discipline and order to life, while the only benefit of peace is disorder. A wagon appears with Mother Courage and her sons, Eilif and Szwejcerkez, and her mute daughter, Katrin. The feldfebel demands identification from the entourage, there is none, but he is only interested in the recruitment of the sons. Mother Courage, in the attempt to save her sons, omens the death of the feldfebel. In a drawing as to who will die, Eilif and the feldfebel each draw a card with a black cross, the sign of death. While haggling is going on about a purchase, the recruiting soldier takes Eilif and Mother Courage sighs: "The one who wants to make a penny on war has to give it something also ..."

SCENE II -- POLAND 1629

A Swedish commander praises Eilif for stealing cattle from the peasants. Eilif sings a song about the wife of a soldier who wishes to prevent her husband from going to war, and Mother Courage joins in the last part of the song about the miserable end of a soldier. Mother Courage tells her guests, a cook and a chaplain who feels that this war is justifiable, that if the Poles had not interfered, the King of Sweden would not have entered the war. The cook declares that it is always the poor who bear the cost of the war, although the King of Sweden has God on his side because he is defending the faith.

As the Catholic Army appears, Mother Courage smears her daughter's face, the chaplain hides the Protestant flag and asks for civilian clothes, and Szwejcerkez hides his regiment's money. Mother Courage has been accepted by the Catholics as a sutler, the price of the bargain being more important than her faith. As spies come in with Szwejcerkez, Mother Courage pretends not to know him. With the aid of Ivette, a friend of the colonel, to whom Mother Courage has pawned her wagon, she hopes to ransom her son. While arrangements are being made to give up her wagon, her only source of income, Szwejcerkez's body is brought in to be identified, Mother Courage renounces her son to save Katrin's and her own life.

SCENE III -- POLAND -- POMERANIA, 1625-1626

Mother Courage buys a sack of bullets from an armorer. Now a treasurer with a Finnish regiment, Eilif is told by his mother to keep warm and to be honest. Ivette talks about her first lover, Peter the Pipe, a cook and sings a song about fraternity.

PART II

SCENE IV

Mother Courage is being searched by Catholic soldiers and hopes to register a complaint about them to their captain. A soldier who sees the captain keep some of his own reward threatens the captain with death. Mother Courage has a feeling that the soldier will not help her in any way, so she dismisses her complaint to the captain. She sings "Great Capitulation" about the disappointments of common people who dream about a happy future, but who know that only misery awaits them.

SCENE V

As the Catholic General Tilly is being buried, Mother Courage examines her merchandise. She is told by the chaplain that the war need not end, and that only during war can common people satisfy their needs, thus she sends Katrin to town for new supplies. As Katrin returns attacked and mutilated, a cannonade is heard commemorating General Tilly's burial, which the chaplain calls a great historic moment. To Mother Courage this great moment only means Katrin's misery and another reason for cursing the war.

SCENE VI -- 1632

Mother Courage has now become rich, and to her the war has become a source of her livelihood. She does not wish the war to end.

SCENE VII -- 1632

As a poor artisan and his mother are about to sell Mother Courage their last pillow, tolling bells announce the death of King Gustavus Adolphus. The cook who had run away from the Swedish Army announces that Eilif would be returning soon. To the cook and Mother Courage, the coming of peace only means misfortune. The chaplain who is being berated by her for having encouraged her to buy useless merchandise calls Mother Courage "a hyena waylaying the loot." Ivette, who comes to see Mother Courage, recognizes the cook as Peter the Pipe and warns her against him. Mother Courage decides to sell her wares.

Eilif is being led to his execution for attacking the peasants and stealing their cattle. This is permissible during war, but not in peace time.

Mother Courage returns from town with the good news that the war is continuing, and in spite of Ivette's advice takes on the cook as her partner.

SCENE VIII -- SAXONY 1634

In front of a parochial house the cook receives word that his mother has died and left him an inn in Holland. Mother Courage, who had been asked by the cook to be his partner, is overjoyed. She has always prayed for her own home. However he will not want Katrin. He and Mother Courage sing a song about King Solomon to evoke the pity of the dwellers in the parochial home. Katrin, who knows how the cook feels about her, decides to run away. This makes Mother Courage decide not to go with the cook and never again accept a partner.

SCENE IX

Mother Courage and her daughter harness themselves to a wagon, and as they travel through the villages they hear songs about the bliss of a quiet domestic life, but they continue further.

SCENE X -- SAXONY 1635

Mother Courage has gone to Halle and has left Katrin with peasants. Catholic soldiers have captured a young peasant who is to show them the way to the town. If the peasants of the town refuse to cooperate with the soldiers, their cattle will be slaughtered. The peasants pray for mercy. As Katrin hears the prayers, she ascends to the roof of a house and begins beating the drums and awakens the guards. As the soldiers try to stop Katrin, a young peasant encourages her. A bullet pierces Katrin's body and she falls dead. The whole town is awake and bells begin to toll. Katrin has accomplished her aim.

SCENE XI

As Mother Courage laments her daughter, she is blamed by the peasants for her greed. If she had not left her daughter, she would not have died. Mother Courage gives the peasants money for Katrin's burial but harnesses her wagon and continues with the only life she knows. Onward she goes, as she follows the marching troops who, with her, are singing the last stanza of the song.
 

¹ -- A feldfebel was a type of non-commissioned officer.

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