Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children, written in 1939, is one of the greatest anti-war plays ever staged.
Set during the Thirty Years’ War in Europe, it follows Anna Fierling, known as Mother Courage, a canteen woman who drags her cart across battlefields, selling goods to soldiers. She believes she can profit from the war while protecting her three children. But as the fighting drags on, one by one, she loses them all.
Brecht uses this tragedy not to inspire pity, but to provoke thought. His “epic theatre” style breaks the illusion of realism, with songs, direct address, and sharp irony, so audiences question, rather than simply feel.
The play’s message is clear: in war, even those who try to stay neutral or profit from it are ultimately destroyed.
Mother Courage remains a devastating reminder that war devours everything, and that no one can escape its cost.