page_title: Mother Courage and Her Children
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Mother Courage and Her Children / Overview
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Information: Bedeutende Theaterinszenierungen: „Mutter Courage“, Schauspiel von Bertolt Brecht; Inszenierung von Bertolt Brecht und Erich Engel am Berliner Ensemble Ausgabepreis: 10 Pfennig First Day of Issue / Erstausgabetag: 29. Mai 1973 Auflage: 1.900.000 Entwurf: Lothar Grünewald Druckverfahren: Rastertiefdruck Michel-Katalog-Nr: Ländercode-MiNr: 1852
context_page_description: Mother Courage and Her Children is a play written in 1939 by the German dramatist and poet Bertolt Brecht, with significant contributions from Margarete Steffin. Four theatrical productions were produced in Switzerland and Germany from 1941 to 1952, the last three supervised and/or directed by Brecht, who had returned to East Germany from the United States.
  Several years after Brecht's death in 1959/1960, the play was adapted as a German film starring Helene Weigel, Brecht's widow and a leading actress.
  Mother Courage is considered by some to be the greatest play of the 20th century, and perhaps also the greatest anti-war play of all time.
context_section_description: The name of the central character, Mother Courage, is drawn from the picaresque writings of the 17th-century German writer Grimmelshausen. His central character in the early short novel, The Runagate Courage, also struggles and connives her way through the Thirty Years' War in Germany and Poland. Otherwise the story is mostly Brecht's, in collaboration with Steffin.
  The action of the play takes place over the course of 12 years (1624 to 1636), represented in 12 scenes. Some give a sense of Courage's career, but do not provide time for viewers to develop sentimental feelings and empathize with any of the characters. Meanwhile, Mother Courage is not depicted as a noble character. The Brechtian epic theatre distinguished itself from the ancient Greek tragedies, in which the heroes are far above the average. Neither does Brecht's ending of his play inspire any desire to imitate the main character, Mother Courage.
  Mother Courage is among Brecht's most famous plays. Some directors consider it to be the greatest play of the 20th century. Brecht expresses the dreadfulness of war and the idea that virtues are not rewarded in corrupt times. He used an epic structure to force the audience to focus on the issues rather than getting involved with the characters and their emotions. Epic plays are a distinct genre typical of Brecht. Some critics believe that he created the form.
caption: 1973 DDR Stamp commemorating the Berliner Ensemble production
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