This Friday (28 September 2018) Leeds’ Red Ladder Theatre Company brings Bertold Brecht’s classic play Mother Courage And Her Children to the Albion Electric Warehouse in Hunslet for what promises to be a memorable production.
Photo: David Lindsay
Pauline McLynn, best known for playing Mrs Doyle in Father Ted, takes the lead role in a dark and witty translation of the timeless anti-war play.
Audiences will follow in the footsteps of Brecht’s fearless matriarch as she hauls her wagon through battlefields and bombed out villages. A live musical score has been composed by Chumbawamba founder member Boff Whalley.
Echoing the contemporary refugees’ universal displacement, Mother Courage And Her Children asks urgent questions surrounding the stigma and fear of immigration and the effects of war.
It integrates a professional cast and community chorus, with Red Ladder supported by Leeds Playhouse as a Theatre of Sanctuary for refugee and asylum seekers in Leeds, and working with local organisations MAPS – the Leeds City Council migrant support service – Open Source Arts, and Leeds Asylum Seeker Network.
The performances will be accessible to d/Deaf audiences via creative sign language and live captioning using app technology.
Pauline McLynn says:
“Mother Courage is one of the great, iconic roles and to have this opportunity to play her is a particular thrill for me. I am excited to introduce whole new audiences to Brecht, a challenging and brilliant playwright who provokes and enriches us with his work. I am an actor who has always had a leaning for the Left and therefore Red Ladder and myself are a very natural match. I can’t wait to get started on this sprawling delight.”
Red Ladder artistic director Rod Dixon says:
“This is the first time in 50 years that Red Ladder will have staged a classic, and to me, it is the perfect play for our troubled times. Brecht is one of the most radical and experimental of playwrights from the last century and my ambition is to use this brilliant piece of theatre to counter the narrative of the right-wing media that refugees from ‘there’ do not need to be ‘here’.
“Mother Courage is a gigantic role and I am particularly excited that Pauline is to play her. Pauline brings a rich experience of many characters on stage and screen to this production, and audiences will be thrilled by her performance.”
Mother Courage And Her Children tuns from 28 September to 20 October. Tickets (£15, £20 Saturday shows) are on sale through Leeds Playhouse. Book via www.redladder.co.uk or call Leeds Playhouse on (0113) 213 7700.
