More Mother Courage Rehearsal Notes

Mother Courage and Her Children. A great, literate, theatrical and long play. It takes courage to stage this play in any language. Trying to stage it in Sri Lanka in a language that I don't understand is, I knew from the start, madness. Rehearsals have their ups and downs. Some days things go well, other days, depression sets in. These past couple of days we have all plunged into a deepening depression.

On Tuesday I risked a stagger through of the play. Immensely useful. I could see that the play was far too long. I know the theatre-going audiences here are not accustomed to sitting through literate and wordy dramas, so that has to be allowed for. I also saw during our very rough run that some cast changes were required. Cuts are being made, and cast changes in process. Both shocking for our budding actors, unused to the process of getting those words off the page and onto a stage.

I forget how inexperienced this cast is. Last year most of them had never had any drama experience. They live in simple fishing villages, come from very poor families. They have talent. They have been traumatised by the tsunami and civil war. Staging this great play of Brecht's is maybe one step too huge for them at this time. A few years hence, when they have more training, are more experienced: understand how to read a script, how to make choices as an actor and another milllion things that go towards making a performance. Then they might be able to confidently tackle such a writer. Yesterday my whole being wished to get on a plane, go home, and let this foolhardy project go.

Today is a day off. A day away from it all so needed. I am hoping this time will allow me to settle my heart, to find the courage to continue. I hope today will give the cast a rest. That tomorrow we will be pleased to meet again. Cuts are in process, recasting has been done. There is a glimmer of hope that we may not make fools of ourselves on March 31st. Whatever is the outcome of this project, ALL of us have grown and learnt. There is pain, but also a lot of joy. It is just that the joy has been behind heavy clouds these past few days.