BWW Reviews: Olympia Dukakis Delivers Stunning MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN in Berkshires

In MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN, Olympia Dukakis delivers a searing performance in its title role. Dukakis is more than just a masterful actor, she delivers a Mother Courage who is strong, sassy and simply astonishing in her complexity. The entire ensemble of sixteen actors raises the reputation of Shakespeare & Company - already renowned for its lush, intelligible renditions of the Bard's greatest works - to new heights.

When talking about her involvement with the Berkshire-based company, Dukakis told director Tony Simotes that she "had one more Mother Courage in her". Those able to make their way to the Tina Packer Playhouse will see her condense a lifetime of acting experience into what has to be her signature role. As Brecht's tragic proxy for humanity Dukakis invests everything she has into a part that is as physically and emotionally demanding as any in the theatrical realm. To take it on again at age 82 is all the more astonishing. While it is the first time that Shakespeare & Company has done a play by Brecht, it is Dukakis' fifth time playing the role.

Brecht's epic morality tale is set during the European Thirty Years War where the quest for money and survival takes place against the background of religious and royal wars waged by those who are Kings and Popes in their quest for power and money. The people they rule or control are their pawns, the cannon fodder for their personal hopes and desires.

War has a trickle-down effect on small time entrepreneurs. The play follows Anna Fierling - Mother Courage - as her family tries to survive on the crumbs and coins they are able to gather. As she hauls her wagon of wares through the blood and carnage of these wars of glory she loses one son, then another, and finally her daughter, too. As the battles rage, she offers boots and brandy to the uniformed and tattered alike. It's all in a days work for one of the most extraordinary characters ever conceived for the stage.

The simple production takes place on a 3/4 thrust stage outfitted with bare pipes, white sheets and uplighting in the style one associates with Bertolt Brecht. The only set piece is the famous Canteen Wagon pulled by her children as the play begins, and by herself - alone - as it ends. The simple, well-worn costumes by Arthur Oliver blend with the time period of the 30 Years War.

A few musicians are upstage, partially hidden, to accompany half a dozen songs that dot the show. Dukakis mostly talked her way through her "Song of Great Capitulation".

All the action in MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN takes place in 12 scenes, taking place from the 1624 to 1636 period of The Thirty Years War of Catholics vs. Protestants, The theatrical journey begins in Sweden and follows the war across Europe, through Poland, Germany and into Bavaria. For this production Shakespeare & Company has fielded a cast of sixteen whose talents shine every bit as brightly as that of Dukakis.

John Douglas Thompson is one of the great actors of his generation, and he delivers a blow-out performance as the Cook, and one of the few people in Mother Courage's life that she is pleased to see. Alternately playing the loving couple, at times comedic, then testy and finally heartbreaking, their scenes together are incandescent moments of great acting come to life.

Other strong players include Dukakis' own brother, Apollo, as the Chaplain. His role is no easy one, he must change personalities as the war progresses, donning and casting off his ministerial garb as the war turns in One Direction or another. For a few moments I thought the current Bible could do with a Book of Brecht to follow all the other chapters in order to show how religious texts have constantly (and sadly) been used to justify war, inequality, genocide and other human suffering.

The play is as much about her children as anything, and there we meet some wonderful actors. Brooke Parks as Kattrin had the challenging task of playing the mute daughter, using all manner of Grotowski-esque physicality and guttural sounds to convey her thoughts to us. In the final scenes, her banging on a drum signals not only the main message of the play, but also its impending finish. She sets a strong example of virtue for us to follow as opposed to Mother Courage who profits from the war and ends up losing all her children.

Her two sons are studies in opposites,with Josh Aaron McCabe as the strong Eilif who is lured into the army and finds himself suited to a life of war and mayhem and Ryan Winkles playing the more innocent and foolish son called Swiss Cheese for his slow mind, and who is both loyal to his mother and gullible.

There is also the character of the "loose" woman, Yvette Pottier, flamboyantly played by the amazing Paula Langton who evoked both laughs and applause in her characterization, a masterpiece of outrageousness and flippant non-subtlety. I love the way Brecht uses humor to trick you into liking a character, and connecting with them, only to watch their downfall later in the play. Once you laugh with someone, you form a connection, and its undoing down the road evokes the same disappointment you might experience in real life.

With some eleven English versions of MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN extant, Shakespeare & Company chose the 1955 Eric Bentley translation which is likely as close to Brecht's original that you can get, if not the most theatrical. Regardless of the translation specifics, the story of Mother Courage and her Children has become a timeless theatrical and philosophical touchstone on the subject of war.

Since Bertolt Brecht wrote the play in 1939 it has been included in just about every "Best Plays" compilation, partly because of its innovations, and also because of the power of its inherent theatricality. Even so it can be off-putting to many people even today, since it suggests as Brecht once explained: "That in wartime the big profits are not made by little people. That war, which is a continuation of business by other means, makes human virtues fatal even to their possessors. That no sacrifice is too great for the struggle against war."

Whether it is that nihilistic message or the length of the performance itself, there were some empty seats after the opening night intermission. Given the brilliance of the production and performances it may have been Brecht's harsh look at the world. This sweeping play is not simply entertainment, it is a painful and dark look inside humanity itself. As a result, MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN is not peopled by characters whom you leave the theatre admiring or feeling good about. Mother Courage certainly loved her children, but in the battle to survive, she makes all sorts of choices that play into the hands of those who make war, not peace.

Nevertheless, it is about as brilliant an evening of theatre as you are going to see this summer. Brecht is a better choice than Shakespeare & Company could have imagined. After all, they are Berkshire theatre company that started the Berkshire tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence aloud every July 4 to celebrate the freedom of expression that our nation guarantees. So just doing this production says volumes about their commitment to theatre that provokes and stimulates us. Experiencing this superb staging of MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN is to feel its power touch you some 75 years after it was first written. That's because its message will never lose its bite as long as there is war being waged somewhere in the world.

As director Tony Simotes says in his director's notes: "War, politics and religion continue to define so much of the tragedy surrounding the nations of the world."

Shakespeare & Company presents MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN by Bertolt Brecht, English Version by Eric Bentley, Directed by Tony Simotes; Set, Patrick Brennan; Costumes, Arthur Oliver; Lighting Matthew E. Adelson; Original Music by Paul Dessau; Additional Music, Scott Killian and Ian Sturges Milliken; Choreography, Barbara Allen; Fight Choreography, Tony Simotes; Stage Manager, Diane Healy; Assistant Stage Manager; Hope Rose Kelly; Alissa Mesibov, Dramaturge. Cast: Mark Bedard (Recruiting Officer, First Soldier, Soldier 1, Ordnance Officer), Apollo Dukakis (The Chaplain), Olympia Dukakis (Mother Courage), Charles Sedgwick Hall (Ensemble, Sergeant, Poldy, Second Soldier, Soldier 2), Edgar Landa (Ensemble, Patch, Regimental Clerk, Lieutenant), Paula Langton (Yvette Potter), Josh Aaron McCabe (Eilif), Nafeesa Monroe (Ensemble, registrar, Young Woman, Singer, Peasant Woman), Brooke Parks (Kattrin), Renee Margret Speltz (Ensemble, Soldier, Sergeant, Guard, Young Peasant), Andy Talen (Ensemble, Young Soldier, Guard, Young Peasant), John Douglas Thompson (The Cook), Michael F. Toomey (Ensemble, Swedish Commander, Older Soldier, Peasant), Ryan Winkles (Swiss Cheese), Eric Sirakian (Soldier/ Yvette's Servant). Musicians: Andy Talen (banjo, keyboard, guitar), Douglas Seldin (percussion), Mark Bedard (bass), Eric Sirakian (violin, keyboard), Ryan Winkles (trombone, harmonica), Ian Sturges Milliken (piano, cello, guitar, accordion). Running from July 26 to August 25, 2013 at the Shakespeare & Company Tina Packer Playhouse in Lenox, MA. www.shakespeare.org Box Office: 413-637-3353.

Photo: Kevin Sprague