The Mother

Karel Čapek

The Mother is one of the most important Czech plays. This anti-war piece by the Czech writer Karel Čapek has been successfully performed all over the world. Štěpán Pácl’s production at the National Theatre Brno became a major Czech theatrical event and remains one of the most important productions of the era of director Martin Glaser and artistic director of the theatre’s Drama ensemble Milan Šotek – in 2023, it toured to the Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv, and in 2025, it was presented in a series of several performances at the New National Theatre in Tokyo and at the Expo 2025 World Exhibition in Osaka.

Čapek wrote The Mother in 1938, during the ongoing Spanish Civil War. At that time was, Europe was in a state not dissimilar to that of today. In the 1920s and 1930s, our ancestors were likewise under the impression that there would never be another war on the European continent, and its eventual outbreak came as a shock to them. It is in this critical situation that Čapek comes up with the tragic story of a mother who gradually survives her husband and four sons. Will at least the fifth and last one of them survive? Or will the war claim his life as well?

The play is a timeless study of human behaviour in crises. Its chief focus lies in particular in the exploration of the differences between male and female energy and male and female ways of seeing the world. At the beginning, everything is unambiguous: the male world is one of aggression, ego-mongering, and needless dying. The mother’s feminine world, on the other hand, is a place of love and security. But as the story progresses, things become more and more problematic. In the face of war, protective maternal love becomes almost suffocating. Is it possible to hide indefinitely in one’s mother’s arms from the evils of the world? Or will there be times when it is necessary to confront it manfully, so to say? How are we to act when guided missiles begin to hit schools and kindergartens?

Štěpán Pácl invited the stage designer Antonín Šilar to collaborate on the production. His design imaginatively thematises the male fascination with violence and helps to relate Čapek’s story to the armed conflicts of today. It is not only about the Russian aggression against Ukraine or the Gaza war: the production also deals with the legacy of European colonialism or the Chinese genocide of the Uighurs, for example. The title role of The Mother is played by one of the leading actresses of the National Theatre Brno Drama ensemble, Tereza Groszmannová. Her approach to the character in many ways breaks away from the existing staging tradition, as she also discovers humour in Čapek’s text in addition to kindness and maternal love. It is not mutually exclusive with the tragic tone of the story; on the contrary, it further enhances the tragedy of events. In this way, Groszmannová succeeds in bringing Čapek’s heroine closer to our contemporary mentality. Thousands of women anywhere in the world can identify with her interpretation of the character.

 

Directed and adapted Štěpán Pácl
Dramaturgy by Milan Šotek
Stage design by Antonín Šilar
Costume design by Zuzana Formánková
Music by Jakub Kudláč
Premiered on 8th April 2022 at the Reduta Theatre

  • “Tereza Groszmannová’s exquisite performance is sure to be recorded in Czech theatrical annals.“ — Jaroslav Tuček, Divadelní noviny

    ;

  • “The Brno production proves how brilliant Karel Čapek was and how brilliantly he wrote The Mother with all its characters, not only Dolores. Its adaptation for the world of today has succeeded without any hesitation – the production is refreshingly civil, light, and all the more impressive. Scenically, lighting-wise and in terms of sound and music, the production is very successful, and the performances of Tereza Groszmannová as well as the cast of gentlemen lift it even higher.” — Iva Bryndová, i-divadlo.cz

    ;

  • „Nepateticky pojatá inscenace. Humorem vyvažuje tragický děj. Například v soupeření a temperamentních výměnách názorů Matčiných synů to často zábavně jiskří. Civilnost se podařilo udržet až do dramatického závěru. Scéna Antonína Šilara je hravá, i když je plná zbraní nejrůznějšího druhu. Herci si dokázali poradit i s jistou tezovitostí, kterou v sobě postavy přece jen mají (např. pravičák, levičák, koloniální voják), a kteří reprezentují jednotlivé členy rodiny.“

    ;

  • “A production conceived without much pathos. Humour balances out the tragic plot. For example, the rivalries and vivacious exchanges between the mother's sons often sparkle amusingly. Civility is successfully maintained right up to the dramatic conclusion. Antonín Šilar’s stage design is playful, even though it is full of weapons of all kinds. The actors have also managed to deal with a certain adherence to theses that the characters do have in them (e.g. being right-wing or left-wing or having been a colonial soldier), and who represent the individual members of the family.” — an audience member

    ;

  • “Dramaturgical plans of brick-and-mortar theatres are prepared well in advance, so they usually cannot respond quickly to current events. However, this time the National Theatre in Brno really hit the mark by planning the performance of the anti-war play The Mother by Karel Čapek in the Reduta Theatre. Especially at the beginning of the second half, one realises that the news from the television which we are presented about the invasion of foreign troops could just as easily be Čapek’s original text as a news report from Ukraine, only a few days old.” — Lukáš Dubský, NADIVADLO

    ;