The Mother (Brecht play)

The Mother is a play by the German modernist playwright Bertolt Brecht. It is based on Maxim Gorky's 1906 novel of the same name.

It was written in collaboration with Hanns Eisler, Slatan Dudow and Günther Weisenborn in 1930–31 in prose dialogue with unrhymed irregular free verse and ten initial songs in its score, with three more added later. Eisler rewrote the incidental music as a cantata, op. 25, for chorus, solo voices and two pianos for a 1935 New York stage production. The play's full German title is Die Mutter. Leben der Revolutionärin Pelagea Wlassowa aus Twer (The mother. Life of the Revolutionary Pelagea Vlassova from Tver).

It premièred on 17 January 1932 at the Komödienhaus am Schiffbauerdamm (near Theater am Schiffbauerdamm, but not the same) in Berlin. It was directed by Emil Burri and the scenic design was by Caspar Neher. Helene Weigel played the Mother and Ernst Busch played Pavel. Years later, Brecht directed the play with the Berliner Ensemble at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin in a production that opened on the 10 January 1951. Neher also designed the sets for this production and Helene Weigel recreated the lead role, with Ernst Kahler playing Pavel and Busch as Lapkin. After Brecht's death, Manfred Wekwerth revised that production at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm with a changed cast; this production was filmed.

...
Wikipedia