First Performed in 1991 at the Birmingham Rep.

 

Creatives

Written by Bertolt Brecht

Translated by Marc Blitzstein

Directed by Anthony Clark

 

Reviews:

 

"It's a fine brave show! A classically Brechtian production in which the contradictions of Victorian society are mirrored in the lower depths and held out for our inspection. Unnerving and disturbing... an operatic production, formal and stylised." The Guardian.

 

"Anthony Clark's new production at the Birmingham Rep is on a vast scale - a scale to fit the huge acting area. The rich excess of Kate Burnett's designs which include a taxi, a lorry, a prison that rises out of the floor and a royal messenger who descends from the clouds, all add to the satire on, materialism and corruption... The story in each ballad comes across with harrowing clarity. The abiding irony of the evening is the sense that dramatic justice - Macheath's reprieve, royal pension and knighthood - totally contradicts natural justice, vice triumphs, and Ewen Cummins as the effective street singer and narrator implicates the audience at the final curtain: it is ourselves we have  been laughing at. And in a sense he's right" Daily Telegraph

 

"A gritty, evocative and vocally powerful production which remains true to the spirit of this unique piece of theatre... The orchestra is quite superb and the cast handle the quirky, angular and frequently quite lyrical score with great assurance and no mean technical ability." Birmingham Express and Star