REVIEW: Mother Courage and her Children, Horden, County Durham
New stars are born in former Methodist Church
What a journey Lee Hall’s been on, I was thinking: all the way from Easington Colliery, where the roots of Billy Elliot lie deep, to Horden where he was bullied on stage to share in a standing ovation.
There have been a few detours along the way, of course.
For some of those receiving applause alongside him, the journey – if there’s any justice in this world, and Brecht’s play suggests that’s a moot point – is just beginning.
Wonderful alchemy has been worked in Horden’s former Methodist church where the fabulous Isango Ensemble, from South Africa, has melded with raw local talent to produce theatre gold.
All this under the expert tutelage of director Mark Dornford-May who has dedicated himself to doing for East Durham what he previously did for South Africa with Isango, which is create a theatre company that’ll turn heads and change lives.
And also with the blessing of Lee who adapted his own translation of Brecht’s famous anti-war play to produce a poetic, visceral and quite sweary script that’s wrenched from the page to strike at the solar plexus (but in a good way).
Boy, was that script put in good hands! Straight through, no interval, and I would have had to keep pinching myself – “This… in Horden!” – were I not riveted to my seat and holding my breath.
After a welcoming word from Janet Brown of the design team – Horden resident and advocate, married in this old church and, like so many others, participating in her first professional theatre production – the story unfolded to the sound of the marimbas massed at the back of the stage (the music, credited to Mandisi Dyantyis, is terrific).
The year is 1624. War between Catholics and Protestants is dragging on and in the middle of it Mother Courage, ironically named, survives with her three children by selling provisions to soldiers at whatever inflated price she can get away with.
Clearly it’s not our war, or the wars currently dominating the headlines, but Brecht, spurred by the rise of Fascism in the 1930s, wrote a story for any age, a portrayal of war as a whirlwind of cruelty, cynicism and fluctuating fortunes on which unscrupulous leaders and black marketeers come to depend.
War, as Mother Courage has long since come to realise, is about money at the end of the day. She’s a canny old bird, but is she canny enough to keep her kids alive? That’s the tear-jerking tragedy that unfolds.
Paulina Malefane is a fabulous Mother Courage.
An opera singer from Cape Town, and co-founder and co-artistic director of Isango Ensemble, she has a big, beautiful voice and the full armoury of acting skills, from the sweeping gesture to the subtlest twitch of a lip. She holds an audience in the palm of her hand.
She has performed at the Royal Albert Hall and with the Berlin Philharmonic, for goodness’ sake! Excuse me while I try to pinch myself again.
But the point is that nobody is outshone, nobody shown up for the newcomer they are. This is not a cobbled together company of two halves. What’s served up is a performance of stunning accomplishment, full of conviction and utterly compelling.
Nolunthando Boqwana-Page, as Mother Courage’s daughter Katrin, joined Isango Ensemble 25 years ago. She gives a wonderful performance as the girl unable to speak.
Brodie Daniel and Joseph Hammal, as sons Eilif and Swisscheese (he likes cheese), started training with Ensemble ’84 in October. These are their first professional roles. Bravo, lads. You wouldn’t know.
Likewise Keith Irons, as the sergeant and cook, and Wendy Hindmarch, as Yvette, plying physical favours as Mother Courage sells food. Both command the stage like seasoned pros.
Confidence shines from every facet of this production, the best Mother Courage you are ever likely to see. And it should be seen much more widely. The world should see what Horden can do, what any community might do if given the chance.
A note at the front of the programme by Alison Clark, director of culture, sport and tourism at Durham County Council, explains how Ensemble ’84 arose from Durham’s bid to be UK City of Culture.
The journey has been relatively short but involving all sorts of people and reliant in large part on money from Arts Council England’s lottery-funded Place Partnership scheme. Ensemble ’84 members have been paid throughout as professionals.
“This is how you change who makes culture – and where,” asserts Alison. “How you dismantle old hierarchies and build something new, rooted and radical.”
It was not about short-term projects, she added. “It’s about sustained investment in people, places and the creative ecology needed to thrive. Ensemble ’84 is making theatre – and futures.”
Long may it continue in what are uncertain times.
Mark Dornford-May was modestly making himself scarce after this particular performance in Horden. Lee Hall, never one for hogging the spotlight, responded to cries of “Speech!” with a smile and muttered thanks. “So proud,” he said.
The night belonged to the cast and the supportive backstage team. A triumph. Enough said.
The run of Mother Courage in Horden, until May 24, is sold out. But we can but hope for a swift return. In the meantime, you can keep abreast of events in this new hotspot of theatreland via the Ensemble ’84 website.