Brecht is a German-born revolutionary playwright.In this production, the NNTT will feature this work, which is the most popular among his plays, together with Die Dreigroschenoper (The Three-penny Opera).This anti-war play emphasizes the futility of war from the perspective of a mother replete with vitality, who was called “Mother Courage” during the Thirty Years’ War in 17th-century Germany.The attractive characters survive the horrors of war and also experience setbacks in their own ways, to the music effectively placed in the drama.Kuriyama Tamiya, Artistic Director for the Drama Division, will take on the challenge of directing the work by Brecht, a wonderful treasure of modern drama.Following Mourning Becomes Electra performed in the 2004/2005 season, Otake Shinobu will play the leading role in this drama.The combination of these two has heightened expectations for the performance of the Brecht play.

This is a joint production with the Hyogo Prefecture Arts & Culture Association, and prior to its performance at the NNTT, the play will be staged at the HyogoPrefectureArts & CultureCenter.

Anna, “Mother Courage,” who was known to lead a vigorous life even during the war, and her three children, travel from battlefield to battlefield, selling goods in their covered wagon.On a spring day, her eldest son enlists as a soldier and leaves her.Furthermore, she is taken captive together with a regiment, and her second son, who worked for the military unit as an accountant, is brought before a military tribunal.She tries to bribe the judge, but not in time for his execution by a firing squad.As the war spreads to wider areas, she moves from one place to another with her wagon.Her business prospers temporarily, but peace suddenly arrives, preventing her from continuing her business.Her eldest son, who was praised as brave during the war, is also executed for the crime of plunder.As war breaks out again, the survivors suffer from hunger, and Anna can no longer make money from her business as she would hope.She wanders from one battlefield to another together with her daughter, her only child who has survived the war, but her daughter eventually dies a sad death.Mother Courage, who has lost all her children, silently trudges alone to a new battlefield pulling her wagon behind her.