Brandon University Theatre matches enduring wartime story with 1970s synth-pop 

Brandon University (BU) Theatre presents a unique, contemporary take on Bertolt Brecht’s powerful anti-war play, Mother Courage and Her Children, next week at the Evans Theatre.

Student actress Alycia Oleson is stepping up to the challenge of playing Mother Courage — a single mother who fights to feed her family and keep them alive in wartime. The play incorporates music, satire and a multi-media backdrop to create a provocative portrait of war and its devastating outcomes.

“I feel like every time we rehearse I find something new about her that I can implement into playing her,” Oleson said. “There’s just so many different facets from her history, and then what happens in the show adds on to that.”

Set to the music of synth-pop pioneers Kraftwerk, Devo and Depeche Mode, BU’s production is not set during any particular war, instead combining visual elements from centuries of global conflict. The cast includes Carley Poloski as Mother Courage’s mute daughter, Kattrin; Malvin Anh Duc Tran as eldest son Eilif; and Logan Baker as younger son, Swiss Cheese. Filling out the principal cast are Mae Bartolome as the Voice of the People, Rafael Palma as the Voice of War, Noah Kanski as Cook Nilsson and Charles Adamu as Chaplain Gothus.

“I feel every time we rehearse I find something new about her that I can implement into playing her.”

Mother Courage actor Alycia Oleson

Director Rochelle Douris said Mother Courage is a departure from her typical work and the last couple of productions by the Drama Program.

“We’re not trying to approach realism with this show. It’s very out there for the audience,” said Douris, who teaches Drama in BU’s Department of English and Creative Writing. “There are quirky characters that are very broad, and we have a lot of instances where we actually address the audience. So, in that way, it’s very different from anything that I usually do.”

Showtimes will take place at 7 p.m., from Wednesday, Dec. 3 until Saturday, Dec. 6, concluding with a Sunday matinee, at 2 p.m. All shows will take place in the Evans Theatre, located in the McKenzie Building, next to the BU library.

Tickets range from $15 to $25 at the door, and are also available in advance at Eventbrite.ca/e/mother-courage-and-her-children-tickets-1803895141929.

For each performance, 50 free tickets will be set aside for BU students on a first-come, first-served basis.

Please contact Deanna Smid at SmidD@BrandonU.ca with any accessibility considerations.

Bertolt Brecht (Playwright) was one of the most influential playwrights and directors of the 20th century. Born in Germany in 1898, Brecht spent much of his professional life living in exile, where he wrote famous plays including The Threepenny Opera, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Fear And Loathing In The Third Reich. He returned to Germany after the war, forming Germany’s pivotal theatre company, the Berliner Ensemble. Brecht died in Berlin on August 14th, 1956, leaving a legacy of epic theatre innovation.

Rochelle Douris (Director) is a Drama instructor at Brandon University. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University, in Montreal, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Florida, in Gainesville. From 2001 to 2017 she served as Artistic Director to the Upper Canada Repertory Company in Toronto. She has previously directed BU’s productions of Salt-water Moon and Life Is Wonderful (2024).

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