Mother Courage and Her Children

Summary: 1959 BBC Television production of Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht. This was the first play by Brecht to be given on British television.
Theatre play: Mother Courage and Her Children [Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder] by Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) [more information]
Play synopsis: 'The bloody battlefields of the Thirty Years’ War provide the setting for Brecht’s astonishing drama, Mother Courage and Her Children. Vital, indomitable, contradictory, Mother Courage is considered by many to be one of the most powerful stage creations of the twentieth century. A tireless entrepreneur of the battlefield, Mother Courage is unswerving in her determination to make a profit from the dirty business of war even as it threatens her children.' Source: http://www.librarytheatre.com/event/mother-courage-and-her-children.
Production history: Written in 1939. The Berliner Ensemble presented the play at the Palace Theatre in London in 1956, with the playwright’s widow Helene Weigel in the title part.
Date of transmission: Tuesday 30 June 1959
Time: 9.30-11.15pm
Series: Television World Theatre
Channel: BBC Television
Production company: BBC

Producer

Rudolph Cartier

Playwright

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

Adapted for Television by

Eric Crozier (1914-1994)

Translator

Composer

Conductor

Designer

Cast

Michael Aldridge	Army Chaplain
John Baker	First Catholic Soldier
Hilda Barry	Wife of Old Peasant
Michael Bates	Old Colonel
Timothy Bateson	'Swiss Cheese’
Heinz Bernard	Regimental Clerk
Van Boolen	First Protestant Soldier
Georgia Brown	Yvette Pottier
David Davies	Swedish Commander
Rupert Davies	Cook
John N. Gordon	Second Musketeer
Walter Gotell	Catholic Lieutenant
Nigel Green	Recruiting Officer
Glyn Houston	Recruiting Sergeant
Eric Lugg	Old Peasant
Olive MacFarland	Kattrin
John McCarthy	Singing Cavalryman
Alan [or Allan] McClelland	Son of Old Peasant
Lilian Moubrey	Old Woman
Michael Mulcaster	One-Eyed Agent
Flora Robson (1902-1984)	Anna Fierling, ‘Mother Courage’
Jack Rodney	Ordnance Officer
Charles Ross	Second Catholic Soldier
Richard Shaw	Eilif
Harold Siddons	First Musketeer
Bernard Spear	Catholic Sergeant
Ann Tirard	Parson’s Servant
John Walker	Old Woman’s Son

Play tags: 17th-century setting; German drama; Germany, as theme or setting; Poland, as theme or setting; Sweden, as theme or setting; wartime, as theme or setting

Title: Mother Courage and Her Children (BBC, 1959)
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Title: Brecht Triumph In World Theatre: Effective Production of Mother Courage (Newspaper review)
Reference: The Times, 1 July 1959, p. 15

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