Press releases

• 2007
• 2006

ETT presents Mother Courage and Her Children

MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN
By Bertolt Brecht
Translated by Michael Hofmann
Songs Translated by John Willett
Directed by Stephen Unwin
Set Designed by Paul Willis
Costumes Designed by Mark Bouman
Lighting by Malcolm Rippeth
Original Music Matthew Scott
Sound Dan Steele
Producer Rachel Tackley

On National Tour from 5 October 2006

 PRESS PERFORMANCE:  Thursday 9 November at 7.45pm at The Richmond Theatre, Surrey

These are heady days for ETT.  In the Spring of 2006, the company had two productions in the West End: Hamlet at the New Ambassador’s Theatre and Alan Bennett’s The Old Country at Trafalgar Studios. To follow the success of these productions both on tour and in the West End, English Touring Theatre again take to the road with Mother Courage And Her Children. Bertolt Brecht’s masterpiece is one of the most powerful anti-war plays of all time. The background of the war in the Middle East makes his plea for peace even more resonant than usual.

The play follows the fortunes of Mother Courage and her three children as she tries to make a living during the madness of the Thirty Years War. She confronts greed, hardship and catastrophic loss in her journey for survival as, one by one, her children are lost to the very violence from which she profits. recht’s work is performed on the 50th anniversary of his death in a year when the National Theatre staged Galileo starring Simon Russell Beale, an ETT patron, and The Young Vic are planning further celebrations.  Mother Courage And Her Children is a powerful blend of musical theatre, dark comedy and thrilling drama translated by Michael Hofman who has twice won the Schlegel-Tieck Prize (Translators’ Association).  Brecht’s songs are translated by John Willett who worked with him on the Berliner Ensemble’s 1956 London programme and has played an important role in introducing Brecht’s work to British audiences.  Taking the title role is Diana Quick, another ETT patron, whose varied career in film, television and theatre includes Julia Flyte in Brideshead Revisited, ETT’s Ghosts, for which she received the TMA and Manchester Evening News Awards for best actress, After Mrs Rochester and more recently You Never Can Tell co-starring with Edward Fox. The cast also includes Tom Georgeson, recently seen as Caleb in Bleak House, Patrick Drury and Michael Cronin, who both return to the company, and the remarkable young Jodie McNee recently hailed for her role in The Changeling for Cheek By Jowl.   Stephen Unwin has been the Director of ETT since founding the company in 1993 and was Joint Winner of the Shakespeare Globe Sam Wanamaker Award 2003. He has directed the vast majority of the company’s productions, most recently including Hamlet, The Old Country and King Lear. He has recently added the celebrated book ‘A Guide To the Plays of Bertolt Brecht’  (pub. Methuen)  to his list of publications.

ENDS.

 
Listings Information
 
5 - 7 Oct  MALVERN Theatres   
Box Office: 01684 892277

10-14 Oct  GUILDFORD’s Yvonne Arnaud Theatre
Box Office: 01483 440000

16 – 21 Oct  DURHAM, Gala Theatre
Box Office: 0191 332 4041

1- 4 Nov  BUXTON Opera House
Box Office: 0845 127 2190
 
7 – 11 Nov  RICHMOND Theatre   
Box Office: 0870 060 6651

14-18 Nov  CAMBRIDGE Arts Theatre
Box Office: 01223 503333

21-25 Nov  YORK Theatre Royal
Box Office: 01904 623568

28 Nov – 2 Dec  Theatre Royal, BRIGHTON
Box Office: 08700 606650

For further information and images call Martin Shippen on 020 7372 3788 or 07956 879165 or e-mail m.shippen@virgin.net