Mother Courage and Her Children follows Anna Fierling, a canteen woman nicknamed Mother Courage, who hauls her covered wagon behind the armies of the Thirty Years' War selling food, drink, boots and belts to soldiers. The play covers twelve years, from 1624 to 1636, in twelve scenes, each introduced by a written caption that tells the audience in advance what will happen.
Bertolt Brecht · AuthorMother Courage and Her Children
Author
Bertolt Brecht
About Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was a German playwright, poet and director born in Augsburg. He first won fame in Berlin with The Threepenny Opera (1928), written with the composer Kurt Weill, and developed a theory of epic theatre shaped by his Marxist convictions. After the Nazis came to power in 1933 he lived in exile in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and the United States, where he testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947 before leaving for Europe. In 1949 he settled in East Berlin and with his wife, the actress Helene Weigel, founded the Berliner Ensemble. His major plays include Life of Galileo, The Good Person of Szechwan and The Caucasian Chalk Circle.