By Kyle Osborne
Anyone who saw Kathleen Turner’s last stay at Arena Stage, 2012’s Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins, knows that she can command a stage. And, for that matter, she commands the audience—almost pulling them along for the ride. In this case, a ride atop a cart of sundries and supplies she sells to whomever she can, as war rages on all around her.
No surprise, then, that Turner’s entrance atop that cart in Mother Courage and Her Children has the audience rapturously cheering before she’s said nary a word. Even in peasant’s clothes and with her hair covered in a drab scarf, Turner’s regal posture and physical flair signal that this woman (in the form of both the actress and the title character) will be a force to be reckoned with. She huffs and she puffs and she blows the house down with a sly comic delivery and a dead pan turn of the head that Jack Benny would have admired.
Photo: Teresa Wood
Bertolt Brecht’s classic anti-war play has a lot of years on it, but under the direction of Molly Smith, it also still has a contemporary attitude, and perhaps some previously undiscovered pockets of inspiration.
The play takes place as a series of scenes, each one announced by number and date by an actor onstage. Some scenes are accompanied by onstage musicians. Turner’s strong suit isn’t her singing voice, but she powers her way through during the few occasions she’s called upon.
As my regular readers will know, I approach Theatre as a consumer of entertainment, as someone who thinks that The Theatre should be just as accessible to those of us among the great unwashed masses (in my case, not only unwashed, but from Texas, for crying out loud)as it is among the tuxedo and gown crowd. I am aware, as a matter of history that this play is considered one of the all-time greats, and you’ll find many positive reviews among the more theatre-literate critics. In fact, I’ll share links to some of them.
In the center of my gut, however, I must report that while amusing in fits and starts, over all, the play left me wanting something more. And less.
There’s a certain amount of repetition inherent in the source material (They fought for 3 decades, hello?) and by the time the scenes are numbering into double digits, one wonders if we haven’t already gotten the point by now? It doesn’t help that there is a distinct lack of eye candy to keep one’s attention; the set is the color of nothing, the lighting is mostly flat and bland. The sound, on the other hand, is about the best I’ve experienced in the Fichlander, where it’s sometimes hard to catch every word if actors aren’t wearing microphones.
A solid cast boasts the great Rick Fouchuex and Jack Willis as stand outs, and there are some chuckles to be had. But for this hick from the sticks, it was all a bit too…much. And not enough.
For a more comprehensive synopsis, and from a critic familiar with the play who had a more positive take on it, check out: DC Metro Theatre Arts Reviews ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’
Mother Courage and Her Children is playing through March 9, 2014 in The Fichandler Theatre at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater- 1101 Sixth Street, SW, in Washington, DC. For tickets, call the box office (202) 488-3300, or purchase them online.