"MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN"
by Bertolt Brecht

Performed on December 7th, 8th and 9th, 1962

Music composed, choir and orchestra directed
by Mr. B. S. Salmon
Producer: Mr. P. H. Hutton

**************************

Brecht's "Mother Courage" is a mediocre sermon on inhumanity and the futility of war. Any greatness it may achieve must result from originality of production and superlative performance. Yet by any standards it is a bold choice for a school play. It was excellent to see Woolverstone so daring.

Wisely, Mr. Hutton declined Brecht's inclination to cold detachment. He heightened the passion and exploited the humour involving his audience in a production of stimulating pace. The coldness was reserved for George Donaldson in the unthankful role of chronicle of time and place.

Breaking with Brecht on this point, it seemed unfortunate that the staging was not more unconventional. Need the curtains ever have been closed? Need the sets have been so detailed?

Yet such comment must not detract from the effectiveness of the waggon, the "destruction" backcloth, and many of the small props (take the butcher's meat), nor should it obscure the effective processions through the audience. Mr. Salmon's music was a triumph. Vital, vibrant, memorable, it was a highlight of the evening.

John Dorling in the name part looked and stood well. His voice sometimes lacked colour but his achievement was great. Here was understanding and emotion beyond what could reasonably be expected of a fifth former. His song was most touching. Simon Crawford, Chaplain, was a delightful study in movement and voice a thoroughly convincing anticlerical performance. Larry Howes was rather young and excessively enthusiastic as the Cook and lacked earthiness, but his singing was a major contribution. David Murray was painfully funny. a perfect tart.

Among smaller roles, David Cleary's Colonel was outstandingly funny and well controlled. Gerald Donaldson had more authority in his voice than experience in his bearing as the Commander, and Tom Carter's Eilif was effectively done until the rather inappropriate song and dance. Christopher Cooper was suitably slow as Swiss Cheese but he might have disguised his voice more. The dumb Kattrin had a difficult task and Peter Emberson was prepared to meet the subtleties. The frenzied drumming was particularly well done.

In so far as the play is by a modern master, giving unconventional theatrical opportunities, involving a great diversity of talent, and above all concerning a theme of crucial importance, "Mother Courage" had much to commend its choice. In the event Mr. Hutton and all those who helped him vindicated this choice.