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John Yorke unpacks the themes behind the stories in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Producer and writer John Yorke unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Producer and writer John Yorke has worked in television and radio for 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact behind the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised in Radio 4's weekend afternoon dramas.

Opening Lines: Mother Courage and Her Children - Episode 2

Mother Courage and Her Children - Episode 2

BBC Radio 4 - Opening Lines, Mother Courage and Her Children - Episode 2

John Yorke takes a look at Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children.

The series about books, plays and stories and how they work. John Yorke examines Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and her Children.

John Yorke takes a look at Mother Courage and her Children, Bertolt Brecht’s play written in 1939 on the eve of World War Two.

Set in an earlier time when the Thirty Years War was raging across Europe, Mother Courage and her Children deals with some of the great themes of conflict and capitalism, looking at the way that one mother tries to survive with her family intact. Brecht grew up in Germany in the years after the First World War when the country was struggling with inflation running out of control. This difficult situation informed Brecht’s political views, and he supported the Communist ideals, although never actually joined the Communist Party.

Brecht also had a number of theories about theatre which John explores. The way he structured his plays meant that the audience would be told what was about to happen with the use of placards. So in Mother Courage, scene captions explain the action in advance at the start of each scene. He didn’t want us to identify too closely with the characters on stage believing that, if we do, we would be surrendering our own viewpoint. John Yorke looks at the emotional detachment that Brecht sought and asks if it really worked.

John Yorke has worked in television and radio for nearly 30 years, and he shares his experience with Radio 4 listeners as he unpacks the themes and impact of the books, plays and stories that are being dramatised on BBC Radio 4. From EastEnders to the Archers, Life on Mars to Shameless, he has been obsessed with telling big popular stories. He has spent years analysing not just how stories work but why they resonate with audiences around the globe and has brought together his experience in his bestselling book Into the Woods. As former Head of Channel Four Drama, Controller of BBC Drama Production and MD of Company Pictures, John has tested his theories during an extensive production career working on some of the world’s most lucrative, widely viewed and critically acclaimed TV drama. As founder of the hugely successful BBC Writers Academy John has trained a generation of screenwriters - his students have had 17 green-lights in the last two years alone.

Contributors:
Professor Laura Bradley,  Dean of Postgraduate Research, College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Personal Chair of German and Theatre, University of Edinburgh
Mark Ravenhill, Playwright
Julie Hesmondhalgh, Actor


Credits: 
Mother Courage is played by Sheila Hancock in the production directed by Jeremy Mortimer, first broadcast on Radio 3 in 1990

Helene Weigel in "Brecht on Stage", (BBC / Open University, 1989)

Acting in the Sixties:  extract from episode with Richard Burton conducted by film critic Kenneth Tynan, on the BBC in 1967

Producer: Mark Rickards
Executive Producer: Caroline Raphael
Sound: Sean Kerwin
Researcher: Nina Semple
Production Manager: Sarah Wright
A Pier production for BBC Radio 4

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