The intrigue of a father who disobeys his daughter, the clash of two underworld rivals and the vacillating guardian of public order between them, and the confrontation of three (dis)enchanted ladies - this titillating story from the milieu of crime and prostitution was a means for the playwright John Gay to draw a complex political satire on the corruption of English society at the beginning of the 18th century. The Beggar's Opera, the most performed work of the time, will be staged for the first time at the SNG Nova Gorica on March 23rd. It also inspired many adaptations and remakes, among which the most famous are Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera (1928) and Benjamin Britten's modernist musical adaptation (1948), but it is also worth mentioning the politically engaged (non-musical) drama of the Czech playwright Vaclav Havel ( 1978) and Opera Wonyosi by the Nigerian Nobel laureate Wola Soyinka (1977).
Peachum, who manages the resale of stolen goods and at the same time arrests robbers, is outraged because his daughter Polly marries against his will Macheath, to charming bon vivant mob bosses. Rage begets revenge and with the revelation that Macheath has promised marriage as well Lucy, the prison warden's pregnant daughter, Peachum launches a manhunt in which a former lover is willing to play the key role of traitor Jenny, one of the many prostitutes with whom Macheath spent joyous nights...
READ MORE: Kurja Polt Film Festival 2017
John Gay is its own Beggar's Opera concluded with the thought: "In the course of the play you have had occasion to observe such a similarity between the habits of the upper and lower classes that it is difficult to decide whether the fine gentlemen are imitating the highwaymen or the highwaymen imitating the fine gentlemen." Bertolt Brecht radicalized the dilemma: "What's a bank robbery compared to a bank break?" And it is this catchphrase that encourages us to decide to face the vivisection of today's society in the text adaptation and directed by Vito Taufer, with songs The outlet of Mlakar and music Aleksander Pešuta – Schatzi.
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