BERTOLT BRECHT’S DARK, ANTI-WAR COMEDY

PRESENTED BY

BRANDON UNIVERSITY THEATRE

DIRECTED BY ROCHELLE DOURIS

DECEMBER 3-7, 2025

Purchase tickets

(Brandon, MB) Brandon University Theatre presents a unique, contemporary take on Bertolt Brecht’s powerful anti-war play, Mother Courage And Her Children at the Evans Theatre on the BU campus. Student actress Alycia Oleson is stepping up to the challenge of playing Mother Courage – a single mother who fights to feed her family and keep them alive in wartime. The show incorprorates music, satire and a multi-media backdrop to create a provocative portrait of war and its devastating outcomes.

Set to the music of synth-pop pioneers Kraftwerk, Devo and Depeche Mode, BU’s production is not set during any particular war, instead combining visual elements from centuries of global conflict. The cast includes Carley Poloski as Mother Courage’s mute daughter, Kattrin, Malvin Anh Duc Tran as eldest son Eilif, and Logan Baker as younger son, Swiss Cheese. Filling out the principal cast are Mae Bartolome as the Voice of the People, Rafael Palma as the Voice of War, Noah Kanski as Cook Nilsson and Charles Adamu as Chaplain Gothus.

Bertolt Brecht (Playwright) was one of the most influential playwrights and directors of the 20th century. Born in Germany in 1898, Brecht spent much of his professional life living in exile, where he wrote famous plays including The Threepenny Opera, The Caucasian Chalk Circle and Fear And Loathing In The Third Reich. He returned to Germany after the war, forming Germany’s pivotal theatre company, the Berliner Ensemble. Brecht died in Berlin on August 14th, 1956, leaving a legacy of epic theatre innovation.

Rochelle Douris (Director) is a Drama instructor at Brandon University. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University (Montreal, PQ) and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Florida (Gainesville, FL.) From 2001 to 2017 she served as Artistic Director to the Upper Canada Repertory Company (Toronto, ON). She has previously directed BU’s productions of Salt-water Moon and Life Is Wonderful (2024).

Production Information

Mother Courage And Her Children
By Bertolt Brecht
Translated by Eric Bentley

Directed by Rochelle Douris

Wed. Dec. 3rd through Sun. Dec. 7th, 2025
Showtime: 7:00PM (Sunday performance at 2:00PM)

Tickets: $15-$25 at the door or in advance at: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/mother-courage-and-her-children-tickets-1803895141929?aff=oddtdtcreator

Fifty free tickets are set aside for students, nightly. First-come, first-served.

Location: The Evans Theatre, 270 18th Street, on the BU campus