Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and her Children mixes dark humor, social commentary, and tragedy. The title character, Mother Courage, travels across war-weary Europe selling alcohol, food, clothing, and supplies to soldiers on both sides. As she struggles to improve her fledgling business, Mother Courage loses her adult children, one after another.
Set in Poland, Germany, and other parts of Europe, Mother Courage and her Children spans between he years 1624 to 1636, during the Thirty Years' War, a conflict that pitted Protestant armies against Catholic forces, resulting in an enormous loss of life.
Anna Fierling (AKA Mother Courage) has been enduring for a long time, traveling with nothing except a supply wagon pulled along by her adult children: Eilif, Swiss Cheese, and Kattrin. Throughout the play, though she does show concern for her children, she seems more concerned about profit and financial security, rather than the safety and well-being of her offspring. Learn more about what many scholars claim is the best play of the 20th Century, Mother Courage and Her Children.
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