'Dream role' for Sandra as Brecht's Mother Courage comes to Black Box

It comes to the city's Black Box Theatre next Wednesday and Thursday, October 28 and 29.

Set between 1618 and 1648, during the the 30-Years War which was fought mostly in Central Europe, ‘Mother Courage’ centres on Fierling, a peddler who operates a canteen wagon that serves soldiers. With her three children, she follows various armies across the continent, working to survive and keep her family together.

Directed by Blue Raincoat's Artistic Director Niall Henry, ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’ to give it its full title, was first staged two years ago in Sligo. Following its success then, they decided to revive it.

Sandra has been involved since the beginning and now, with a couple of new actors in the cast, rehearsals are underway, albeit for a shorter period than two years ago.

“We are still finding new things, bringing it further, getting it clearer and having an element of surprise”, she says of a play that was written in 1939 and demonstrates the harsh realities of war.

At its heart is this formidable woman, played by Sandra.

“She’s a listener in a way,” she says. “You see how quickly her mind has to work to keep trucking forward.”

Although Mother Courage “makes a couple of bad decisions in terms of haggling and loses her children as a consequence, she still has to get on with business, navigating her way through war. And she always seems to get back on her feet”.

But her survival comes at a cost, according to Sandra.

“A lot of people keep their eye on what they think is the right thing to keep their eye on, and then things get lost along the way.”

Given the passion with which Sandra talks about ‘Mother Courage’, it’s no surprise when she says, “I took to her when I first did it. I really love the play and I love working with the other actors. You can have fun and be quite free”.

That’s despite the demands of the role, with Sandra being in every scene, except one. Her fellow actors are John Carty, Bob Kelly, Aisling Mannion, Aine Ní Laoghaire and Brian Devane.

Brecht’s writing style, which broke new ground in the early 20th century, included dispensing with ‘the fourth wall’, and allowing the performers to address the audience directly.

Niall wanted Blue Raincoat's production to be true to Brecht, but also to bring its own physical style to the play, explains Sandra.

In the production, the actors do the transitions between scenes, as the production works to convey the passage of time – 30 years.

Finding ways “that would show time moving on” was important and “that’s the great thing about doing it second time round”, she says.

Sandra's professional training was in London, with Corinne Soum and Steven Wasson in a discipline known as Corporeal Mime, which involves “using your body as an instrument”. This came about by accident after Niall Henry, who had trained in mime in Paris, brought one of his teachers, Corinne, to Sligo to do a workshop.

That was in 1994 when Blue Raincoat was in its early days. Sharon attended. She was 21 at the time and had plans to go Africa.

The course changed her life and the thought came to her that “I want to be an actor”.

So, she moved to London, where Corinne and Steven had relocated from Paris and trained with them for three years before returning to Ireland and working with Blue Raincoat.

Acting can be a tough career, she acknowledges, but it's the one for her.

“You keep going and stay positive.” She laughs. “And it’s too late to get a job in the bank now.”

Tickets for the play, which begins at 8pm nightly at the Black Box, are €22 / €20 from tht.ie, 091-569777 and the Town Hall Theatre box office.