The Belgian director Lisaboa Houbrechts stages Bertolt Brecht's anti-war play as a moving fable about vulnerability and resistance of one of the most iconic female figures in the global theatre repertoire: a musical and pictorially powerful universe brimming with beauty and humanity.
War takes place not only between nations and people, but it also violently enters the realm of the family and of the female body. How does one live and survive in a war as a child? As a young woman? As a mother? The exceptional young, Belgian director Lisaboa Houbrechts stages Bertolt Brecht's anti-war play Mother Courage as a moving and confrontational fable about vulnerability and resistance of one of the most iconic female figures in the global theatre repertoire. Mother Courage is everyone at once: perpetrator and victim, mother and businesswoman. Houbrechts stages Brecht's play, which he wrote in response to the start of the Second World War, faithfully to the text and with songs by Paul Dessau. Nevertheless – or because of that – she achieves a stunning currency. What emerges is a multi-lingual universe of music and images full of beauty and humanity.
Direction, Stage design Lisaboa Houbrechts Text Bertolt Brecht Dramaturgy Dina Dooreman, Erwin Jans With Lubna Azabal, Koen De Sutter, Joeri Happel, Aydin Ìşleyen, Alain Franco, Laura De Geest, Lisi Estaras, Pietro Quadrino With music by Paul Dessau Music arrangement, additional music, Sound design Alain Franco Performance music Alain Franco & Aydin Ìşleyen Vocals and saz Aydin Ìşleyen The following songs from Paul Dessau from Mother Courage and her children will be sung without musical guidance Mon capitaine – chanson de Mère Courage, la chanson de la grande capitulation, la chanson de la fraternisation et de Ulm à Metz Costumes Oumar Dicko Execution costume Lubna Ellada Damianou Lights Fabiana Piccioli Stage design Lisaboa Houbrechts, Ralf Nonn Production management Ella de Gregoriis Stage master Carlo Bourguignon Light technician Margareta Andersen Sound technician Brecht Beuselinck Intern assistant director Daan Haeverans, Ludwig Sander
Production Koninklijke Vlaamse Schouwburg (KVS) & Toneelhuis Coproduction Théâtre de Liège, Le Phénix scène nationale Valenciennes, Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Perpodium Supported by The Taxshelter of the Belgian Federal Government via Cronos Invest, the Flemish Community & Regio Hauts-De-France World premiere February 2025, KVS (Brussels)
