Love and money are everything in Australian maverick Barrie Kosky’s audacious new look at Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s ‘play with songs’, drawn from Elisabeth Hauptmann’s translation of John Gay’s eighteenth century romp, The Beggar’s Opera.
Almost a hundred years on from its 1928 premiere, Kosky’s Berliner Ensemble production breathes new life into the show, as he does away with Weimar-style trappings and drapes it in an infinitely more modern looking if still decadent gloss.
Set in a poverty-strapped world where appearances matter, Kosky opens proceedings in front of a full-length silver curtain, where local gang boss Peachum holds court before Macheath and Peachum’s daughter Polly make their entrance.
The revolt into style that follows resembles a 1980s Soho-set pop video dreamt up by an unholy alliance of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Julian Temple.
Gabriel Schneider’s Macheath, aka Mack the Knife, is a big-suited city boy spiv forever on the make or on the run.
Cynthia Micas’ Polly sports a rah-rah skirt, similarly glammed up in her Dinah Ehm-designed finery.
As Macheath hams it up, at one point showering himself with glitter as he claims his narcissistic moment, there are frequent nods to the band as he and Polly flirt with the audience.
Polly sings Pirate Jenny as a nightclub turn aloft set designer Rebecca Ringst’s maze of podiums that house the ensemble like a team of off-duty go-go dancers.
Later, as Polly’s love rival Lucy prepares to knock off her nemesis, the catfight that follows looks like a closing-time scrap between besties outside a cocktail bar, with all the tears and tantrums involved before they make up.
All this is raucously soundtracked by musical director Adam Benzwi, who helms a storming eight-piece band that stays true to Weill’s ragged streetwise spirit.
Schneider and Micas lead a glorious ensemble, which also includes Amelie Willberg as Lucy, and a keening Bettina Hoppe as Jenny.
Only at the end do the cast appear in more familiar Cabaret-style black, as we see how those in power are let off for their crimes with little more than a caution in a world where love is still for sale in this mighty reinvention.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here