Washington Post - Recommended
"...Admirably, Smith, using a translation by playwright David Hare, resists the temptation to lacquer on any commentary of her own or to make Courage any more honorable than Brecht intended. We watch "Mother Courage" as we might the account of any predictable losing battle, not with electric outrage or disgust but with a sense of mournful respect and resignation."
DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended
"...Schopenhauer once said,"Talent hits a target that no one else can hit. Genius hits a target that no one else can see." These words are uniquely apposite to describe the genius of Bertolt Brecht. Brecht, who referred to Hitler as "the house painter," lived under a very real threat as the Nazis took over Berlin; as Peter Watson notes in The German Genius (HarperCollins 2010), he left Germany the day after the Reichstag fire, leaving behind his address book with Hannah Arendt's name and phone number, which caused her to be arrested and spend 8 days in jail. That was February 28, 1933; on May 10th, his books were burned, along with those of many other writers, according to biographer Frederic Ewen in Bertolt Brecht: His Life, His Art, & His Times (Carroll Publishing Group, 1992)."
Baltimore Sun - Highly Recommended
"...Director Molly Smith, who guides this atmospheric, in-the-round production with a sure hand, has said she wanted to remind people of the "Her Children" in the title so that Brecht's searing anti-war, anti-hypocrisy sentiments are not the only take-homes. That goal has been realized, thanks to Turner's rich portrayal."
MetroWeekly - Highly Recommended
"...David Hare's contemporary, sharply witted translation ensures that nothing is lost of Brecht's rueful style of humor and the players capably keep the balance between the dire and the funny. And though the sets are somewhat reminiscent of the fake rocks of a vintage Star Trek episode, they are also in keeping with Brecht's penchant for the theatrically stark. And there is enough action and emotional pace to lessen the distraction."
Talkin Broadway - Recommended
"...The last time Kathleen Turner appeared at Arena Stage in Washington, she was playing the outspoken journalist Molly Ivins. Now she's back as the indomitable Mother Courage, making her way as a peddler in wartime, in Molly Smith's immersive, sometimes exhausting production of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children."
Washington City Paper - Highly Recommended
"...Turner powers her way through the massive title role on grit and will, surrounded by a well-picked, energetic ensemble cast, in a bitterly cynical story that calls on her character to haul her perpetually weary carcass through the hellscape of various 17th-century European battlefields over the dozen-year course of not one but two religion-fueled wars. You'll have begun to understand by now, I imagine, why people describe Mother Courage as one of the towering modern dramas. It's exhausting, angry, and brilliant, and in its way awesome-in the old sense, a thing that inspires a kind of shellshocked awe."
Washingtonian - Highly Recommended
"...In addition to Turner, who carries the show on her seemingly unshakable shoulders, credit goes to Weaver as Kattrin, who manages to steal scenes without uttering a word through her tragicomic miming and her guttural, furious howls when trouble's afoot. Smith wisely ends with an indelible image of Courage outstretching her hand to follow the soldiers after losing everything. That gesture is hard to forget, but Weaver's remarkable performance underscores the poignancy of the innocents who aren't equipped to even pretend to spin war in their favor."
ShowBizRadio - Highly Recommended
"...Mother Courage is a strong ensemble show, and the ten ensemble members, in addition to their participation in David Leong's frequent, varied, and well-designed movement pieces, join in most of the musical numbers (as singers, instrumentalists, or both) and play a multitude of soldiers and other smaller roles. They are the key to the circus-like feel of many of the musical scenes that are vital to director Smith's concept. Their level of energy and attention to the details of their differing characters are consistently high. There are no weak links."
The Georgetowner - Highly Recommended
"...As an experience, this production, which features gloriously thrift-shop costume designs by Joseph Salasovich and a spectacularly beat-up war set by Todd Rosenthal, is almost overwhelming. It's like being parachuted into a place you've avoided all your life. It's a dangerous place. It has the unkempt odor of religious passions which can turn murderous in a second. It's full of loss and constant change-one day you're a camp follower, the next day, you're a colonel's mistress, which is what happens to a Grisabella-like Yvette played with loud charm by Meg Gillentine."
MD Theatre Guide - Recommended
"...The epic Mother Courage presents you with is a world as foreign to most Americans as those previously mentioned battlefields of Afghanistan. Thus, you witness the events of the play in much the same way a historian might analyze history. At moments you will empathize with the characters, but in the end you will resist empathy at all cost."
DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended
Kathleen Turner commands the stage for nearly three hours with her earthy bravado, impeccable timing, and salacious appetite for all things irony. Turner’s Mother Courage occasionally exposes her soft and sensual core,
