Mother Courage promenade perf at Royal Arsenal Site

Greenwich & Lewisham Young People's Theatre and Teatro Vivo presents a promenade performance of Bertolt Brecht 's Mother Courage and Her Children at the Royal Arsenal Site in Woolwich, south London, from 5 to 21 Sep 2014

Directed by Sophie Austin , with design by Jane Mackintosh and Gordon Allum. Cast includes Kas Darley, Denise Orita, Mark Stevenson, James Traherne, Michael Wagg .

In the year that the nation commemorates the 100th anniversary of the start of World War One, Bertolt Brecht's play is brought vividly to life against a backdrop of cannons, in a promenade performance that draws on the Woolwich Arsenal's history as part of Britain's war machine, and highlights the human cost of surviving conflict. Audiences are invited to become war refugees, engaging with a cast of professional actors and a Community Chorus of 30 local people. They will go on a dramatic journey through the site, experiencing Woolwich's own war history, and the historic Royal Arsenal Site itself through drama, poetry and song Mother Courage, a canteen woman, pulls her cart with her three children in the wake of an army, trading with the soldiers and attempting to make profit from the Thirty Years' War. Her wheeling and dealing allows her family to thrive for a time, but she ultimately pays the price for her profiteering, leaving the audience to question who really gains.