Threepenny Opera Study Guide

A SUPPLEMENTARY STUDY GUIDE
Compiled by Robert Heller with Sally Ollove
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section One: About the Play
Production Information/Character List
Plot Synopsis
About the Writers
Production History
Section Two: Context
The Beggarʼs Opera
Town Talk (A Glossary of British Slang)
The Victorian Money System
The Text of The Threepenny Opera
Section Three: Our Production
The Creative Team
The Cast
Storyboard/Costume Sketches
Section one: ABOUT THE PLAY
PRODUCTION INFORMATION
AND CHARACTER LIST
The Threepenny Opera
Play with music after JOHN GAY’S The Beggar’s Opera,
In Three Acts
Music by KURT WEILL
German translation by ELISABETH HAUPTMANN
Adaptation and Lyrics by BERTOLT BRECHT
English translation of dialogue by ROBERT MACDONALD
English translation of lyrics by JEREMY SAMS
Used by arrangement with
European American Music Corporation,
Agent for The Kurt Weill Foundation for Music, Inc., and agent for the Brecht Estate.
Directed by Terrence J.. Nolen
The
Characters:
Peachum
Filch
Mrs. Peachum
Polly Peachum
MacHeath
Matt of the Mint
Crook-Fingered Jake
Chain-Saw Bob
Walt
Ned
Jimmy
Reverend Kimball
Tiger Brown
Beggars
Jenny
Betty
Dolly
Nelly
Vixen
Old Whore
Smith
Lucy Brown
Constable
PLOT
SYNOPSIS
The setting is Victorian England. A sign above stage prepares the audience for what lies in store:
“An opera for beggars. Conceived with magnificence such as only beggars could imagine, and an economy such as
only beggars could afford...The Threepenny Opera!”
ACT I
The company sings of the exploits of the notorious Mack the Knife (The Flick Knife Song). It is made clear that this
story will follow the pursuits of the lower class and explore murder, greed, debauchery, etc.
The scene shifts to the house of Mr. Peachum (the proclaimed “King of the Beggars”). He sings of the work of his
hired beggars (Peachum’s Morning Song) and how he embellishes the plight of the downtrodden so they can invoke
more pity, earn more and give him a larger cut of the profit. Mrs. Peachum enters and swoons over the Captain who
is suiting their daughter Polly. Mr. Peachum soon deduces that this suitor is no Captain but in fact the notorious
gangster Mack the Knife (MacHeath). Distraught at learning of their daughter’s horrid affair they mourn the immaturity of the modern child (Kids Today).
The scene shifts to an empty stable where MacHeath is preparing for his wedding to Polly Peachum. We meet
MacHeath’s crew: Matt of the Mint, Walt Crook-Fingered Jake, Chainsaw Bob , Jimmy and Ned. They try desperately
to accommodate the festive celebration with stolen food, a graphic drinking song (Gang Song), and a feeble attempt
at proper dining. The Reverend Kimball enters and is unscathed by the crews graphic demeanor and at the culmination of the crew’s attempts to entertain MacHeath Polly instead performs her impression of a bar maid she once
encountered (Pirate Jenny) and quiets the room with her tale.
Suddenly, the festivities are interrupted by Tiger Brown, the Chief of Police. Nerves are settled when MacHeath
reveals that they are old friends from the army. They reminisce about their times together (Cannon Song) and Tiger
Brown assures MacHeath that his file is clean at Scotland Yard so he need not fear Mr. Peachum’s retaliation. Tiger
Brown exits and the gang gives Mack a last gift...a four post bed and their “discreet exit” so that Mack and Polly can
have a moment of intimacy alone (Love Duet [Liebeslied]).
The scene shifts to the Peachum house where Polly responds to her mother’s condemnation of MacHeath (Barbara
Song). Her parents respond by devising a plan to bribe the whores MacHeath frequents to turn him in, collect the
reward and force Polly to divorce “Mack the Knife,” thus leaving Polly to remarry, a large lump of money in their laps,
and Mack The Knife hanged.
Act I ends with a musical sequence (Life’s A Bitch [Dreigroschenfinale]) where Polly and her parents lament that
“life’s a bitch and then you die.” They confess they would love to do good, but the truth is...you can’t.
PLOT SYNOPSIS CONTINUED
ACT II
Polly bursts into the stable to warn MacHeath that her father has convinced Tiger Brown to file the “missing”
charges against MacHeath and he is now a wanted man. She begs him to flee to Highgate Heath and he eventually agrees. His crew enters ready to enact their plans to disrupt the upcoming coronation when MacHeath informs them he will be leaving town and putting Polly in charge of his business. MacHeath exits and Polly laments
his departure (Polly’s Song).
The scene shifts to a brothel in Turnbridge where Mrs. Peachum is bribing Jenny (one of the whores) to turn
MacHeath in, but Jenny insists he will not waste his time with them if the police are after him. Mrs. Peachum
responds with an analysis of the male disposition (The Ballad of Sexual Imperative). Mrs. Peachum exits and
shortly thereafter MacHeath enters unscathed by the apparent manhunt and recounts his days spent with Jenny
to the members of the brothel (A Pimp’s Tango) and reveals that they had had a child who they killed. By the end
of the song Smith, Mrs. Peachum and the constables have arrived and arrest MacHeath.
The setting shifts to the cells of the Old Bailey. Tiger Brown is drowning in guilt and MacHeath is stuck in a tight
spot having secretly previously been with Tiger Brown’s daughter and certain that it will now be revealed. MacHeath sings about how easy and luxurious the life of the rich is and bemoans his own existence on the bottom of the
totem pole (The Ballad of the Easy Life).
Lucy enters and berates MacHeath for marrying another woman and MacHeath tries to calm her when suddenly Polly enters as well. Polly and Lucy both want MacHeath for their own and sing a duet besmirching each
other and affirming their right to be with MacHeath (Jealousy Duet). Lucy ends the discussion by pointing out her
pregnancy and Mrs. Peachum enters forcing Polly to leave immediately. MacHeath then vows his love for Lucy
leading her to aid his escape. Tiger Brown enters and to his relief finds MacHeath gone. Mr. Peachum enters
and chastises Tiger Brown for letting MacHeath escape and describes the fate of some historic lawmen that let
criminals slip through their fingers and Tiger Brown starts up the manhunt again.
The act concludes with a simple question: “What keeps a man alive?” to which the characters respond variously
that all of them would like to be good and moral but they have to eat, so: “it’s wickedness that keeps a man alive”
(Second Threepenny Finale).
PLOT SYNOPSIS CONTINUED
ACT III
The act begins at the Peachum house. Jenny comes to Mrs. Peachum to collect her reward for turning in MacHeath but is denied due to his escape. Jenny reveals that MacHeath is likely to next be visiting Suky Tawdry.
Mrs. Peachum sets the next apprehension in motion and reaffirms the tendencies of men (The Ballad of Sexual
Slavery). Filch bursts in shouting that the police are coming and Mr. Peachum hides the beggars. Tiger Brown
enters ready to arrest Mr. Peachum, but Mr. Peachum and the beggars break into song (The Song of Inadequacy)
belittling Tiger Brown’s faulty plan. Mr. Peachum explains that it is not in the nation’s best interest for him to send
thousands of beggars to the Coronation. Tiger gives up, once again, and returns to his manhunt. Jenny bemuses
the way that life has of coming full circle and decides that perhaps she and MacHeath were never meant to be
together in the first place (Socrates Song).
Polly goes to visit Lucy and apologize; who in turn reveals that her pregnancy is faked and eventually after some
discussion they decide MacHeath is not for either of them.
The scene changes to the condemned cell of MacHeath who is desperately attempting to bribe Smith sending his
crew out to bring him money, but the streets are crowded as it is coronation day and it is to no avail. During the
sequence MacHeath condemns the world for punishing him for things which to him are not wrong and he pleads
that he doesn’t deserved to be punished (A Call from the Grave). His crew, his women, and the Peachums all
come to visit him and the whole world has seemingly turned their backs on MacHeath. Finally Tiger Brown enters
and spends his last moments with his friend settling their tab.
MacHeath takes his last moment before his execution to pardon everyone in the world and beg them to pardon
him (Ballad in Which MacHeath Begs All Mens’ Forgiveness).
The execution is set to begin when Mr. Peachum interrupts the action and addresses the audience directly:
“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve reached the end;
Mr. MacHeath is surely going to swing;
In Christendom, no one, you may depend,
Is given, or forgiven, anything.
But, lest you think we go a touch too far,
And since you are the ones we can’t offend,
We leave the door of Destiny ajar,
And have thought out a rather different and quite ingenious
HAPPY END....”
Suddenly the King’s messenger (Tiger Brown) enters and delivers the message that MacHeath is pardoned, promoted to the rank of Viscount, given the Kensington Palace and a 90,000 pound tax-free annuity. The whole cast
rejoices and leaves the audience with one final message:
“We do implore, don’t judge the poor too harshly
They turn to crime whenever times are tough
For life today is cold and grey and ghastly
And living it is punishment enough.”
PRODUCTION HISTORY
1728--Premiere in London of The Beggar’s Opera by John Gay and J.C. Pepusch
1920--Revival of adapted version of The Beggar’s Opera in London runs 1,463 performances.
March 1927--Bertolt Brecht writes the lyrics to “Pirate Jenny” and “Barbara-Song.”
July 1927--Premiere of the first collaboration of Kurt Weill and Brecht, The Mahagonny Songspiel.
Fall 1927--Brecht’s assistant Elisabeth Hauptmann translates the libretto of The Beggar’s Opera into German.
Spring 1928--Berlin producer Ernst Josef Aufricht and Brecht agree to do a new adaptation of The Beggars Opera with a score by Kurt
Weill.
August 10, 1928--Rehearsals for the Threepenny Opera begin at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.
August 30, 1928--After a rehearsal period filled with conflict, defections of cast members, and endless cuts and changes, the dress
rehearsal ends at 5:00 a.m. Most of the cast and creative team feel the show will be a colossal failure.
August 31, 1928--World premiere of the Threepenny Opera at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm. Several new productions in Germany
are arranged within days.
1929-- The Threepenny Opera sees over forty new productions in Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary,
Finland, and the Soviet Union.
July-November 1930--Filming of G.W. Pabst’s German and French versions takes place
1931--Brecht publishes revised version of the script.
1933--Weill and Brecht both flee Germany and the Nazis ban further performances of The Threepenny Opera.
April 1933--The Threepenny Opera opens on Broadway for the first time. The run lasts only twelve performances.
February 1935--The BBC broadcasts a complete performance.
Spring 1938--The Nazis stop playing songs from The Threepenny Opera at their exhibition of “Degenerate Art” in Düsseldorf, because
too many people are enjoying listening to them.
August 1945--The Threepenny Opera is performed for the first time in Germany since 1933.
January 1949--Brecht adapts the script to adapt to current German issues. Weill was never consulted.
April 3, 1950--Weill dies in New York. Marc Blitzstein begins writing his English translation.
March 10, 1954--Premiere of Blitzstein’s version at the Theater de Lys in New York City.
September 20, 1955--The Threepenny Opera reopens at the Theater de Lys and runs a total of 2,611 consecutive performances.
This production firmly establishes The Threepenny Opera as a regular on American stages and sparks innumerable pop recordings of
“Mack the Knife.”
August 14, 1956--Brecht dies in Buckow, Germany.
January 1958--Lenya supervises and performs in a complete recording in German.
April 12, 1960--The first production of The Threepenny Opera by the Berliner Company (Brecht’s acting company).
1963--Film directed by Wolfgang Staudte is released in German and English versions.
June 1976--Richard Foreman directs a new English version by Ralph Manheim and John Willett
March 1986-Tim Curry stars as Macheath at the National Theatre in London.
November 1989--Opening of a Broadway production with a new translation by Michael Feingold starring Sting,
Maureen McGovern, Alvin Epstein, and Kim Criswell.
1994--Donmar Warehouse, London, hosts a production with new English lyrics by Jeremy Sams.
March 2006--The most recent Broadway revival opens at Studio 54 starring Alan Cumming, Cyndi Lauper, Jim Dale, Nellie McKay, and
Ana Gasteyer with a new English translation by Wallace Shawn.
BERTOLT
BRECHT
Adaptation
and
Lyrics
A German poet, playwright, and theatrical reformer, Brecht is one of the most prominent figures in the 20th-century theatre. He is widely known for a technique known as “verfremdungseffekt” or the “alienation effect”, designed to encourage the audience to retain their critical detachment and to dissuade emotional involvement.
Bertolt Brecht was born on February 10, 1898, in the medieval city of Augsburg, part of the Bavarian section of the German Empire. At age ten Brecht attended a private school, The Royal Bavarian Realgymnasium (Koeniglich-Bayerisches
Realgymnasium).While there he began writing, and he ended up co-founding and co-editing a school magazine called
The Harvest. By age sixteen he was writing for a local newspaper and had written his first play, The Bible, about a girl
who must choose between living and dying but saving many others. By nineteen he had left school and started doing
clerical work for the war, but was prevented from more active duty due to health problems. In 1917 he resumed his education, this time attending Ludwig Maximilian Universitat in Munich, where he matriculated as a medical student.
In 1921 he took a trip to Berlin and attended the rehearsals of Max Reinhardt and other major directors. The next year
his play Drums in the Night opened in Munich at the Kammerspiele and later at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin. He
received the prestigious Kleist prize for young dramatists as a result. Brecht married the opera singer Marianne Zoff,
at the age of twenty-four. In 1923 his two plays Jungle of Cities and Baal were performed. In 1927 Brecht collaborates
with Kurt Weill for the first time on a piece called the Mahgonny Songspiel. In 1928 they agree to write the Threepenny
Opera together and later that year it opens in Germany. The piece has much success in and out of Germany.
In 1933 Brecht took his family and fled to Zurich after the burning of the Reichstag, later moving around the world to escape Nazi rule. In October 1947, during the McCarthy years, Brecht was called to appear before the House Committee
on Un-American Activities. Although not an official member of America’s communist party, Brecht left the United States
for Switzerland the next day. He traveled to East Berlin in 1948 and set up the Berliner Ensemble with full support from
the communist regime. Mother Courage and Her Children was the Berliner Ensemble’s inaugural production.
In 1951 Brecht received the National Prize, first class. In 1954 he won the international Lenin Peace Prize. Brecht died
of a heart attack on August 14, 1956, while working on a response to Samuel Beckett’s absurdist play Waiting for Godot,
written the year before.
Brecht’s works include: The Threepenny Opera and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (both with Kurt Weill),
Mother Courage and her Children, The Good Person of Szechwan, The Life of Galileo, and The Caucasian Chalk
Circle. Brecht’s works have been translated into 42 languages and sold over 70 volumes.
KURT WEILL
Music
(1900-1950)
Weill was born in Dessau March 2, 1900, Weill displayed musical talent early on. By the time he was twelve; he was
composing and mounting concerts and dramatic works in the hall above his family’s quarters in the Gemeindehaus
In 1918, he traveled to Berlin and studied philosophy and music. He studied with opera composer Engelbert Humperdinck.and composer Ferrucio Busoni
As the distinctively chaotic culture of Berlin between the wars began to thrive, Weill found his way into the Novembergruppe, an organization of progressive artists where he eventually met his wife Lotta Lenya.
While Weill was working as a writer/critic for Der Deutsche Rundfunk, he glowingly reviewed a 1927 radio performance
of Bertolt Brecht’s Mann ist Mann. Brecht and Weill’s collaboration began with a short piece (Mahagonny Lieder ) and
soon began an adaptation of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera which they translated into German and replaced existing songs with brand new ones. They called the concoction Die Dreigroschenoper (now popularly translated as The
Threepenny Opera). The overwhelming success of this 1928 production (with Lenya playing one of the minor roles)
made celebrities out of Brecht and Weill.
Brecht/Weill would go on to collaborate on Happy End , and an expansion of their first piece “Mahagonny Lieder”
called Der Aufsteig und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny), a radio cantata called
Der Lindberghflug, a school opera in two versions based on Japanese Noh drama (Der Jasager/Der Neinsager) and a
ballet chanté (i.e., a ballet with singing) called Die sieben Todsünden (The Seven Deadly Sins). Weill also returned to
the world of Opera writing Die Bürgschaft with scenic designer Caspar Neher and Die Silbersee with Georg Kaiser.
Weill later fled Germany and traveled through Europe eventually ending up in America and began working in the musical theater first writing The Eternal Road, then collaborating with Maxwell Anderson on Knickerbocker Holiday (1938),
then with Moss Hart and Ira Gershwin on Lady in the Dark (1941), followed by another hit with Ogden Nash and S.
J. Perelman, One Touch of Venus (1943), Some of the more successful late Weill productions included Street Scene
(1947), Love Life (1948) and Lost in the Stars (1949).
Weill died of a heart ailment one month after his 50th birthday (3 April 1950). Unexpected prosperity came in 1954 with
an English-language version in New York City of Brecht/Weill’s The Threepenny Opera, with help (including a stylish
translation) from composer Marc Blitzstein. A few years later, Louis Armstrong made the song “Mack the Knife” into a
hit single, followed by a version by Bobby Darrin (1959) that became one of the most famous Grammy-winning hits of
all time.
SECTION TWO: CONTEXT
The Beggar’s Opera
The Beggarʼs Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay.
It is one of the only examples of Satiric Ballad Opera. In this genre most of the Operatic conventions are employed except for recitative (long spoke/sung sections in place of dialogue).
The lyrics were set to popular broadsheet ballads, opera arias, church hymns and folk tunes
of the time.
The Beggarʼs Opera premiered at the Lincolnʼs Inn Fields Theatre on 29 January 1728 and
ran for 62 consecutive performances, the longest run in theatre history up to that time. The
original production was so successful that John Rich, the manager of the theatre, was able to
build a new theatre, the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, forerunner of the Royal Opera House
and in 1920, The Beggarʼs Opera began an astonishing revival run of 1,463 performances at
the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith, London, which was, again, one of the longest runs in history for any piece of musical theatre at that time.
Instead of the grand music and themes of opera, the work uses familiar tunes and characters
that were ordinary people. Some of the songs were by opera composers like Handel, but only
the most popular of these were used. The idea was to provide tunes, characters and a story
that the entire audience could identify and relate to. The story satirized politics, poverty and
injustice, focusing on the theme of corruption at all levels of society and riffed off of the rich
operatic tradition of the Italians in a fashion more suited for the English people.
An example of one critical response from the period (Feb. 17, 1728):
“We hear that the British Opera, commonly called The Beggarʼs Opera, continues to be acted,
at the Theatre in Lincolnʼs-Inn Fields with general Applause, to the great Mortification of the
Performers and Admirers of the Outlandish Opera in the Haymarket.”
TOWN TALK
A glossary for British slang and other terms .
From the Donmar Warehouse Translation of The Threepenny Opera
Argies: Argentineans. Here referring to the enemy in the Falklands War.
Baker St: Also in W1, less wealthy than Highland St, but still pretty affluent.
Bangladesh: A country in South Asia bordered on all sides by India. It was another stronghold of the British Imperialists.
Basra: The capital of Basra providence in Iraq
Bethnal Green: One of the poorest districts, nearby neighborhood
Bhajis: Called Pakora in Hindi, a fried Indian snack.
Bob: 1 Bob= 1Shilling
Brass farthing: worth one penny
Buckingham Palace: the official residence of the British monarchy, a middle distance away
CID: British Criminal Investigation Department
Chippendale: Nice and old furniture and cutlery designs, British. Ornate. The joke is that this style is not too far off
from Louis Quatorze.
Covent Garden: Vulgarly called Common Garden, the place to go for whores. The bike refers to the fact that everyone has had a ride
Cracksman: A house-breaker, a robber of houses
Crumpet: A sweet bread snack in Britain and slang for vagina
Cut-glass talk: Fancy and insulting talk, split glimmers of wit, sharp and cutting. Witty insults.
Daventry: Far, sort of rural, lower class
Derbies: pronounced “darbies”, handcuffs
Disposal Men: contract killers
Diver, Jenny: (see Jenny). Diver= Pickpocket
Dodges: A trick or devious plot, a scam
Done a bunk: Flee under incriminating circumstances
Dover: A seaside town, far
Drury Lane: Aside from Covent Garden, the other location of most brothels
Erysipelas: A really gross skin disease
Fabrege: Ornate Russian designer, most famous for eggs, but designed many little jeweled bric-a-brac
Flick Knife: Switch-blade
Gamages: British department store. Not as nice as a Fabrege.
Gangster’s Moll: A whore, or a woman kept by a gangster
Garroted: A garrote or garrote vil (a Spanish word; alternative spellings include garotte and garrotte) is a handheld
weapon, most often referring to a ligature of chain, rope, scarf, wire or fishing line used to strangle someone.
Ginger Street: A rough place, Far
Goose Green: A settlement on the Falkland Islands that was one of the first battles of the Falklands War.
Guinea: 1.05£
GLOSSARY CONTINUED
Highgate Heath: In the suburbs, so far away. It was the favorite hiding place of a well known British highwayman
because it was very rural and therefore afforded a lot of places to hide.
Highland St: Wealthy street in W1
Haute Ecole: “advanced school” usually refers to the art or expert classes in horsemanship
Hounslow: Far, poor
ICI: Imperial Chemical Industries, has since been bought by a Dutch company, but was one of the largest chemical
producers in the world.
Invidious: Rousing ill will
Jankers: The official punishment for minor infractions in the British Army
Jenny: An instrument for lifting up the grate or top of a show-glass, in order to rob it
Jenny Topper: Jenny: (see Jenny) Topper: 1) The person who is most outstanding or excellent; someone who tops
all others; “he could beat the best of them” 2) One that removes tops or puts tops on.
Kensington Palace: A royal residence in London, a little further afield, but still nearby.
Knickers: Underwear
Knocking Shop: Not to be confused with a brothel, it’s a place where teens can go to have sex without worrying
about their parents.
Little Miss Muffet: Cockney rhyming slang for “stuff it.” Cockney rhyming slang involves replacing one common
word with two or three words that sound similar. It’s similar to adding –izzle to a word today.
Louis Quatorze: Louis the 14th of France, in this case, referring to ornamental cutlery made in the style (and possibly during the reign) of Louis XIV. Very ornate. The joke is that the Chippendale style is not very different.
Lurex Knickers: Lurex is a metallic yarn, so Lurex Knickers are shiny underpants, meant to be seen
Manchester: A city in the north of England, a center of capitalism
Marakesh: A city in Morocco that was important in the age of British Imperialism
Marks and Spencer’s: A British department store
Mills and Boon: A leading publisher of romance novels in Britain
Mint (Matt of the): 1) Gold 2) Excellent or Cool
Muckers: Good friends
My Old China: Cockney Rhyming slang for friend: china=china plate=mate. Cockney rhyming slang involves replacing one common word with two or three words that sound similar. It’s similar to adding –izzle to a word today.
‘Napping: As in, kidnapping. Specifically, to take someone while they are napping or unaware (in this case, I think
Peachum is the one napping).Nark: From narcotics officer, means a snitch
Natty: Smartly or neatly dressed
Nero: The Emperor Nero, noted for his extravagance, including his broad sexual appetites
Newgate: A famous prison by the Old Bailey
Nicked: Caught
Nugatory: Of little or no consequence
Octopus: To use one’s hands to grope certain (private) places of one’s anatomy
Old Bailey: The Central Criminal Court in London, named for the street it is on
Peeler: British slang for policeman (Sir Robert Peel set up the first police force)
Peters and Lee: A British folk/pop duo from the 70s (Lennie Peters and Dianne Lee)
Pugin Jardiniere: A Jardiniere is an ornamental pot on a stand for flowering plants. Pugin was an English architect
and designer. A Pugin Jardiniere would be expensive.
Quid: 1£
GLOSSARY CONTINUED
Rod and Staff: From Psalm 23: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for
You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
Rozzer: Policeman
Ryvita: Cheap crackers
Savoy Hotel: A luxury hotel
Scabies: Also called mange; a contagious skin disease caused by small mites. Itching is a main symptom. It’s
gross.
The Screw: A stingy bargainer
Selfridges: London high-end dept store
Shagged: Fucked
Shavers: boy or young man, an acute thief
Skivers: Slackers
Slag: Slut
Skivvy: A servant, especially a female, who does menial labor
“Smoke ‘em out”: Smoke them out of their holes. In this case, provide some reason (such as smoke in the house)
to get the residents of the house outside so Jake could steal stuff from them.
Sodding: Damned (specifically comes from the word sodomite, the English equivalent is damned)
Soho: Probably where most of the action is located, famous for music and sex shops, an entertainment district.
Also where the theatres are. W1.
Squaddy: Slang for a private soldier
Stood there like a duck egg: Duck egg=lump. Stood there like a lump
Strand: A street nearby, but one neighborhood over, another area famed for coffeehouses and whores, but it’s being gentrified around this time. A lot of literary and artistic people live there
Suky Tawdry: Suky short for Susan, Tawdry means gaudy
Telly: Television
Toff: A mild derogatory term for someone with an aristocratic background, especially someone who acts superior.
Torville and Dean: Champion British ice dancers from the eighties, Jayne Torville and Christopher Dean. Close
friends, not a couple.
Turnbridge: Made up prison.
Twopenny halfpenny dive: Twopenny halfpenny is slang for cheap. So cheap dive. Very possibly a brothel, but not
necessarily.
Viscount: Royalty. Above a baron, below an earl.
Vodaphones: A British cell phone company
W1: Wealthy, shopping-heavy ward.
Ward: London is divided into Wards as a way of organizing the city
Wanker: A general insult, it used to be related to masturbating, but has lost that connotation. Now is just means
someone you generally dislike
Waterloo: A neighborhood across the Thames from Soho. Not as dodgy as some of the other places.
Weeping Willow (Walter): Cockney rhyming slang for pillow. Cockney rhyming slang involves replacing one common word with two or three words that sound similar. It’s similar to adding –izzle to a word today.
Westminster: Westminster Abbey, ringing the bells indicates the coronation has started
Winchester: Very far, outside of London
Victorian Money System
Pound: £
Shilling: s
Penny (Pence): d
1 Pound= 20s
1 Shilling=12d
1 Penny= 2 Half Pennies or four farthings
1 Guinea= 1.05£ or 21s
Half Crown= 2s 6d
Florin= 2s
Silver Sixpence= 6d
Threepenny=3d
1 Bob= 1s
1 Pound in Victorian England had the buying power
of approximately 65 pounds today
The Text of
The
Threepenny
Opera
There is some debate as to whether Brecht himself wrote all of every play he said he wrote alone. Brecht
was known to have many mistresses and many mistresses with a proclivity towards the poetic. It is undoubtedly true that his mistress and assistant Elisabeth Hauptmann translated John Gay’s Beggar’s Opera from
English into German (and certainly a translator carries much of the interpretive burden. She is billed as the
Translator but many believe she deserved more credit. She was the force behind moving the project forward
as she was the one more inspired by the Beggar’s Opera as she found herself identifying with Polly and identifying Brecht with MacHeath.
It is also true that Brecht used many sources in constructing this piece including: Rudyard Kipling, François
Villon (the great Medieval French poet) and the Bible as well as his fellow compatriots in the rehearsal room.
It is said that the title of the piece was provided by Lion Feuchtwanger (a fellow playwright) when Brecht announced that he was looking for suggestions (as he apparently often did).
It must be pointed out however that the Beggar’s Opera, on which the Threepenny Opera is based, utilized
a similar technique and set the story on top of a bed of familiar references whether it was music, text, characters, or scenarios so Brecht’s use of other sources seems to fall in line with the tradition of the piece.
It is difficult to precisely determine if he truly did just pilfer from other writers as many of the writers he is said
to have taken passages from wrote in other languages and in fact what he was stealing was the translation
and was forced to pay royalties to the translator of an edition of François Villon poems as some of his translations made their way verbatim into the Threepenny Opera.
It is well known that Brecht was a great admirer of Kipling and a song like “The Cannon Song” is very similar
to many poems and speeches Kipling had written. Again, it could just be considered imitation in admiration of
Kipling and in service of a piece that called for some imitation.
Brecht famously had a falling out with his music collaborator Kurt Weill and many believe it was this sort of
temporary life Brecht seemed to think a piece of theater had in that he could change it at any time and use
anybody’s work to do so. It’s known that Brecht did revise the script without consulting Weill and often used
text from other’s without crediting them.
SECTION THREE: OUR PRODUCTION
OUR PRODUCTION
Directed by
Terrence J. Nolen
Scenic Designer
TOM GLEESON
Lighting Designer
THOM WEAVER
Costume Designer
Sound & Video Designer ROSEMARIE E. MCKELVEY
Dramaturg
JORGE COUSINEAU
SARAH OLLOVE
Musical Director
Fight Director
ERIC EBBENGA
Assistant Director
JOHN BELLOMO
MALIKA OYETIMEIN
Stage Manager
Assistant
JOHN DAVID FLAK
Assitant
Musical Director
Stage Manager
MATHEW WRIGHT
CHERIE B. TAY
THE CAST
THE CAST CONTINUED
THE CAST CONTINUED
Set Design
Storyboard Images
The “Flick Knife Song”
The moon over Soho
At the brothel
At the office of Peachum
“Lifeʼs a bitch and then you die!”
“What keeps a man alive?”
Costume Sketches