Mother Courage at CSC — Page 3

I live almost 3,000 miles from where this dispute took place, but in the AP article, Ms. Pinkins comes across as a spoiled diva who doesn't realize that even if you have a Tony Award, it is your job to serve the director's vision of a play. Actors should of course (politely) discuss any differences of interpretation with their director, but ultimately, it's the director's decision, not the actor's.

Furthermore, although taking a "white" play and resetting it in Africa (with a white director with a black cast) was inevitably going to result in some tricky conversations in the rehearsal room, it seems that Ms. Pinkins is simply playing the "race card" in order to abandon a production she knows is a bomb. A real professional would have stuck it out until the end. Shame on her.

Kad said: "Setting Mother Courage in a realistic depiction of the Congo- or any location- isn't what the play is about, and isn't the play Brecht wrote. "

That's a valid contention. What we (or at least I) don't know is who stepped into that trap. If (as it seems) Kulick chose to set it in Africa with a black Courage, then did he inherently violate what you say about the play? And if that is the case, it is not surprising that the black actor he employed to dress his set would want to own her blackness. Perhaps there is another side to this that is eluding me but that's what I am seeing here. Regardless, I think Pal Joey summed it up best: tis a mess.

Agreed! On all fronts.

Again, she was clearly wanting the classic to be screwed with. Power to no one.

I believe she was speaking metaphorically when she wrote the director neutered Mother Courage and left her powerless and delusional. I believe that was Tonya Pinkins saying the director was trying so hard to micromanage and control her actions as an actor, leaving her with no agency or power as an actor to give the kind of performance she is capable of. She means her performance was left with no agency to engage with the revised setting in a way that felt true to her as an African American performer.

The TL: DR snarky reading is white director demanded his black actors parrot back his interpretation of what it's like to struggle to survive in a war-torn African nation.

There might be artistic value in this vision, but clearly communication failed here.

Updated On: 12/30/15 at 05:59 PM

Awkward that they're going to have to change the key art as well since Tonya's face is inside Africa.

HogansHero said: "Kad said: "Setting Mother Courage in a realistic depiction of the Congo- or any location- isn't what the play is about, and isn't the play Brecht wrote. "

That's a valid contention. What we (or at least I) don't know is who stepped into that trap. If (as it seems) Kulick chose to set it in Africa with a black Courage, then did he inherently violate what you say about the play? And if that is the case, it is not surprising that the black actor he employed to dress his set would want to own her blackness. "

Good points both. Whoever's idea the Congo was, Kulick's perhaps?, then that is the root of the problem. By hiring Tonya to portray an African situation, she wanted it to represent her roots. Why is that being a diva?

I'm not sure Kulick understands Brecht or what Tonya is mad about, judging by this statement:

http://www.classicstage.org/blog/2015/12/30/director-brian-kulicks-response-to-tonya-pinkins-leaving-mother-courage-and-her-children/

After reading her full statement I'm not sure she was wrong in her opinion.

Her full statement is enlightening and her departure is clearly the result of a lot of soul searching and her lack of power. I am happy my previous comment was false. This is why she is one of my favorite actress of all time.

I fully support Tonya after reading that full statement. Also, anyone else notice that Brian Kulick's "statements" are mostly quotes from THE EMPTY SPACE? LOL.

I have been reading this thread and I don't think anyone has brought this up... why would her contract be up on Jan 3 if they aren't even opening until Jan 7th? Doesn't make sense to me. I have seen other productions directed by Mr. Kulick and he seems like a fine director to me. I am sure he isn't a theatrical moron. I don't think she should have brought Olympia Dukakis into the article, even if she did invite her to watch. I don't like the racial tone of any of this either.

this point has been made several times in this thread, in several different ways (once by me), but ultimately the responsibility always falls on the director, especially where, as here, he is also in essence the producer. Setting the merits aside, the obligation of a producer and director in relation to a star (especially one who is clearly the raison d'être of a production, is to articulate the "vision" and flesh out any concerns rather than assuming they'll work out in the wash. And as to "professionalism," I see it quite the opposite: a professional is someone with integrity, who doesn't do work that they can't represent.Would that there were more such professionals. Oh, and by the way, the theatre is not a plantation...

This director's hubris was in thinking he is the intellectual equal of Bertolt Brecht.

He is NOT.

He should have written his own play about the Congo and left Brecht's play to directors who are up to the task. His own words demonstrate his pretension and intellectual feebleness. He says:

Tonya has articulated her point, let me try to articulate mine:

I had a basic question that I started this process with: Can you treat a Brecht play like we now treat a Shakespeare play? In other words, is a Brecht play as open as a Shakespeare text where you can set it in another time and place and see how the play speaks through the lens of that new setting? It seemed like the most direct analogy for a play like Mother Courage would be to set it in Central Africa in this century. The next question became could you keep the Brecht text as it is and make a transplantation without too much interference with the adaptation? What would it tell us? This added another layer of experience to watching Mother Courage. The result, for me, is that the play becomes haunted by three powerful ghosts: the ghost of the Thirty Years War (where the original version is set), the ghost of the Second World War (that prompted Brecht to write the play) and the ghost of what is still happening in the Congo today. These cumulative hauntings began to say something about war with a capital "W." It also allowed us to use the production as a way of reminding audiences that even though the plight of the Congo does not occupy the front pages of our newspapers, it is an on-going conflict that is still far from over and can use our attention and support.

PalJoey says: What a maroon.