When words come to life...

...the power lies in the expression

Mother Courage is a play written by Bertolt Brecht. The pictures on the right show both of the most recent translations and presentations.

Although the text is written for performance, the interpretations from the reader directly reading the text versus the viewer watching the play can be very different. To put this into perspective, a lot of book lovers get really frustrated after they see the movie. What happens in these situations is that the individual mind has it own "picture" of what the characters look like and how they sound and such. The movie is then someone else's viewpoint of how THEY interpreted it. So when the Divergent and Maze Runner fans feel upset that "THE MOVIE IS WRONG" because there were changes made, know that it's someone else's representation of what they feel it is. The most recent outrage I've heard about is the Maze Runner: Scorch Trials movie. I remember my best friend after seeing the trailer, "WHAT. Why is TERESA WITH THEM?!! That's not what happened in the book!". Or my own rage when in The Host they took out a major character whose death seriously  affected the plot!! Ultimately, us viewers and readers have to realize that movies are someone's interpretation of the book. That the words in pages can be expressed in many different ways because words can have different meanings to different people.

Cover of the most recent edition of the book

However, those examples have to do with novels turned to movies. In reference to class,  Brecht wrote Mother Courage as a play, its' purpose is to be performed so the changes are minimal in comparison.

The focus scene I'm going to compare is the very first scene of both the play and the book. It features an army recruiter, sergeant, and it introduces Mother Courage and her three kids; Swiss Cheese (the honest one), Kattrin (the mute with compassion), and Eiliff (the brave one)

For a focus point to let you know how it should look in the play, CLICK HERE TO WATCH  . This isn't the one with Meryl Streep, but it gives you some insight as to how it's acted.

For the most part the text is similar to the play with what occurs within the story. But the difference lies in the power of the actor's performance. They way they make the audience follow their every movement and every word.

One of the prominent moments in the play is when Mother Courage pulls a knife and then yells, "We're friendly people!". The irony there shows the disconnect between her actions and her words. In the book it's also noticeable but not prominent or as funny to the reader as it is to the audience. While reading the book I was personally more focused on what would happen with Eiliff rather than picking up on that disconnect.

Due to the fact that the text was meant to be performed it shows that there's inherent value in it being spoken and the audience visualizing the actors. There's always a difference between writing for dialogue and writing for only reading purposes. Dialogue has slang, it often has more voice, and it's easier to get straight to the point with what the characters are stating. But performance shows how they feel, it presents Brecht's ironic satirical tone more outwardly which is the point of the text.

Altogether, the play itself gives a better representation of the purpose of the text. It allows the audience to more simply grasp how they're supposed to feel rather than reading and then thinking about it after.

When words come to life,
the power lies in the expresssion.