No longer booking
  • Venue Shakespeare's Globe, London
  • Performance dates Booking to 27 June 2026
  • Age guidelines All Ages. All under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.

Mother Courage and Her Children played at Shakespeare’s Globe, for their first-ever staging of Brecht’s anti-war masterpiece – fierce, musical, and unforgettable.

War rages. Profit thrives. Humanity fractures.

Mother Courage and Her Children arrives at Shakespeare’s Globe for the very first time, bringing Bertolt Brecht’s revolutionary anti-war drama into the heart of the yard in a bold new London theatre production directed by Globe Associate Artist Elle While.

Led by Michelle Terry in the title role, this visceral staging follows Mother Courage as she drags her cart across a brutal landscape of conflict, capitalism, and survival — selling what she can to keep her children alive, even as war demands everything in return.

Translated by Anna Jordan (Succession, Yen, Lost Atoms), this is Brecht at his most urgent: darkly funny, musically charged, and devastatingly human.

Mother Courage and Her Children tickets are on sale for performances from 7 May to 27 June 2026.

Get Mother Courage and Her Children Tickets

Book your Mother Courage and Her Children tickets early to experience Brecht’s masterpiece in the Globe’s uniquely immersive setting. Choose standing yard tickets for the closest, most electric atmosphere, or seated options for comfort with great sight-lines.

Why Book Mother Courage at Shakespeare’s Globe?

    • First-ever Brecht production at Shakespeare’s Globe
    • Michelle Terry starring as one of theatre’s most iconic female characters
    • A striking new translation by Anna Jordan
    • Directed by Elle While (Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
    • Live music, biting humour, and fierce theatricality
    • A timely story about war, capitalism, complicity, and survival

What is Mother Courage and Her Children about?

Set against the chaos of war, Mother Courage is a trader, a survivor, and a mother — determined to make a living from conflict as the world collapses around her. She sells whatever she can: food, supplies, fragments of dignity. But every deal comes at a cost.

Brecht’s masterpiece is not just a story of survival — it’s a sharp and uncompromising protest against the machinery of war and the systems that feed on it.

In this modern, darkly hedonistic production, the Globe becomes a battleground of music, fury, and joy-as-rebellion.

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Performance Information

Check booking calendar for full details

Stars and Creatives

Who is in the cast of Mother Courage and Her Children?

Starring:

  • Michelle Terry as Mother Courage
  • Rawaed Asde as Swiss Cheese
  • Rachelle Diedericks as Kattrin
  • Vinnie Heaven as Eilif, Nadine Higgin as Yvette
  • Trieve Blackwood-Cambridge as Sargeant / Clerk / Man
  • Eiden River-Coleman as Child
  • Sarita Gabony as Woman / Soldier
  • Keaton Guimarães-Tolley as Recruiter / Fur Coat / Soldier
  • Sienna-Rae Kenna-Braithwaite as Child, Daniel Rainford as Ensemble / Cover
  • Ferdy Roberts as Minister, Max Runham as Narrator
  • Simon Scardifield as General / Bloody Nose / Yellow Sergeant
  • Nicolas Tennant as Chef
  • Ayla Wheatley as Ensemble / Cover

Who are the creative team of Mother Courage and Her Children?

  • Production: Mother Courage and Her Children by Bertolt Brecht
  • Director: Elle While
  • Translator: Anna Jordan
  • Designer: takis
  • Composer: James Maloney
  • Casting Director: Becky Paris CDG

Important Notes

Access Performances
Captioned: Saturday 30 May 7:30pm, Thursday 4 June 7:30pm
BSL: Monday 1 June 7:30pm, Sunday 20 June 2pm
Relaxed: Saturday 6 June 2pm, Saturday 19 June 2pm
Audio Described: Wednesday 24 June 2pm

Venue Information

Shakespeare's Globe , 21 New Globe Walk, London, SE1 9DT

Nearest Tube or Train: London Bridge (Jubilee line, Northern line)

Nearest Buses: 45, 63, 100, 15, 17, 11, 15, 17, 23, 26, 76, 381 , RV1, 344

Directions

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Critics' reviews of Mother Courage and Her Children

★★★★ “Brecht’s anti-war play can be daunting – but this staging is a gripping triumph.” The Telegraph

★★★★ “The production does full justice in its portrait of complicated, imperfect and doggedly hopeful motherhood” The Guardian

★★★★ “Michelle Terry is winning in the title role in this canny, timely production of Brecht’s anti-war play.” The Stage

★★★★ “It keeps a warped sense of vibrancy going until almost the end, before deftly introducing a fleeting moment of vulnerability that’s the nearest thing this broken world will get to a moment of grace” TimeOut

★★★★ “the achievement of the production is to make Brecht’s characters and their lives both symbolic and real” What's On Stage

★★ “Elle While’s production trundles along like the cart that the grizzled trader and her brood push round and round the stage.” The Times

Also see: Mother Courage and Her Children Reviews Round-up

Frequently Asked Questions

Mother Courage and Her Children is playing at the Shakespeare's Globe in London
The age recommendations for Mother Courage and Her Children are: All Ages. All under 16s must be accompanied by an adult.
Yes, Mother Courage and Her Children has matinee performances on the following days:
The play follows Mother Courage, a trader who survives by selling supplies during wartime while trying to protect her children. As the war intensifies, each victory costs her more, until she is left with almost nothing. It is a powerful anti-war story about survival, greed, and complicity.
Mother Courage deals with themes of war, death, capitalism, and moral compromise, so it is best suited to older teenagers and adults. Check the official age guidance before booking.
No. Mother Courage and Her Children is a play that features live music, performed as part of the action. The songs sharpen Brecht’s satire and heighten the emotional impact, making this production bold, rhythmic, and thrillingly theatrical.
No, sorry, Mother Courage and Her Children has now completed its run and is no longer on sale.

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