Christopher Walken Joins Meryl Streep in Central Park Mother Courage
By Robert Simonson
30 Jun 2006
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Christopher Walken
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Christopher Walken will play the critical role of Cook in the Aug. 8-Sept. 3 Central Park staging of Brecht's classic Mother Courage, starring Meryl Streep in the title role.
Walken and Streep appeared together in the Public Theater's 2001 revival of Chekhov's The Seagull, which also played the Delacorte Theatre. Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Caroline, or Change) has penned a new adaptation of the war drama. Kushner's Caroline, or Change collaborator Jeanine Tesori has created original music. George C. Wolfe will direct.
Walken's many film credits include "The Deer Hunter," "Catch Me If You Can," "Pulp Fiction," "At Close Range" and "Annie Hall." Before becoming a Hollywood mainstay, he built up an impressive array of stage credits, including the original productions of Hurlyburly and The Lion in Winter, as well as Off-Broadway turns in Othello, Lemon Sky and Coriolanus.
The cynical Cook is one of the mercenary Mother Courage's few constant companions as she and her children trudge through the bloody and pointless (in Brecht's depiction) Thirty Years War.
Streep caused a sensation in 2001 when she returned to the New York stage after a long absence to appear in a Mike Nichols rendition of Chekhov's The Seagull in Central Park. Kevin Kline, Natalie Portman and Philip Seymour Hoffman also starred in that staging.
During the 1970s, Streep appeared in New York City stagings of The Cherry Orchard, Happy End and Taming of the Shrew. She is the winner of two Oscars.
Anne Bancroft played Mother Courage on Broadway in 1963. Gloria Foster played the part in a Public Theater production of the play in the early 80s.
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