Glenda's shot of Courage

This is a great play and Mother Courage (played by Kathryn Hunter) is a marvellous part, because she is never off stage. But that's not what makes it interesting. Mother Courage isn't a heroine. As far as the playwright Bertolt Brecht was concerned, she was a survivor. The play is set in the middle of the Hundred Years War. When I played her, the director wanted to set it in Vietnam to draw a modern parallel, but I didn't see the similarities. Vietnam was about an external power becoming a central force in a civil war, whereas the Hundred Years War waged across the whole of Europe.

It's a demanding role, but no more than a lead in Shakespeare. The difference lies in having a woman as the central driving energy. I don't agree that Mother Courage is King Lear for a woman. Her sense of survival is based on the banal - she has limited imagination and wouldn't understand her own madness. She has no consideration of what the war is about. Her outlook is simple survival on a daily basis. Mother Courage ain't subtle, but she's crafty.

When I did it at the Glasgow Citizens Theatre, Robert McDonald translated the text and did it very successfully because he's a terrific dramatist. I'd not seen it performed but what I found helpful was that Ethel Merman was doing Rose [in Gypsy] on Broadway at the time. Her front and energy were the kind that are central to the character.

Even if you don't end up liking Mother Courage you sympathise with her tragic heroine qualities. Brecht wanted people to feel something. His perception was based on the extraordinary effect theatre can have. I'd love to see the Shared Experience production but as we're stuck in the House Of Commons until at least ten every night my chances are completely non-existent.

Mother Courage And Her Children, Tue 25 Apr-Sat 20 May, New Ambassadors Theatre, West Street, WC2 (020-7836 6111)