Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht, Eric Bentley (Translator)

Synopsis

Widely considered one of the great dramatic creations of the modern stage, Mother Courage and Her Children is Bertolt Brecht's most passionate and profound statement against war. Set in the seventeenth century, the play follows Anna Fierling -- "Mother Courage" -- an itinerant trader, as she pulls her wagon of wares and her children through the blood and carnage of Europe's religious wars. Battered by hardships, brutality, and the degradation and death of her children, she ultimately finds herself alone with the one thing in which she truly believes -- her ramshackle wagon with its tattered flag and freight of boots and brandy. Fitting herself in its harness, the old woman manages, with the last of her strength, to drag it onward to the next battle. In the enduring figure of Mother Courage, Bertolt Brecht has created one of the most extraordinary characters in the literature of drama.

Lillian Hellman

The Threepenny Opera and Mother Courage are the great plays of our time.

Biography

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was one of the most influential playwrights of the twentieth century. Born in Augsburg, Bavaria, he fled Germany in 1933 when Hitler came to power. Returning to Germany after the war, he founded the Berliner Ensemble and continued to work on plays and films.
Olympia Dukakis has worked for more than forty years as an actress, director, producer, teacher, and activist and has won numerous awards, including the Academy Award and the Golden Globe Award.
Norman Roessler is editor of Communications, the performance journal of the International Brecht Society, and is a lecturer at Temple University in Philadelphia.
John Willett (1917-2002) is a scholar and translator of several works by Bertolt Brecht into English.
Ralph Manheim (1907-1992) is a translator of works by Bertolt Brecht, Hermann Hesse, Günter Grass, and many others.