EIF: The Threepenny Opera

Festival Theatre - 18/08/23

Berliner Ensemble | Barrie Kosky 
Bertolt Brecht, text, and Kurt Weill, music, in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann

Is it Brecht or Kosky? “Does it matter? It’s bloody marvellous!” That was the reaction of one critic when leaving the Festival Theatre last night to the cheers of the packed out audience as the Berliner Ensemble took their bows after the first night of ‘The Threepenny Opera’. It could be if you are a Brecht scholar you might be offended by the radical rewrite by Barrie Kosky which transforms the socialist realist critique of the original into a love story. You wonder what Brecht and Weill would have made of the evening. Would Brecht like the reduction of his savage critique of capitalism? Would Weill like the fact that although some of his great songs are there, they are not very well sung, and they tend to be underplayed? Where is the drama and the menace of ‘Die Moritat von Mackie Messer’. (The Ballad of Mack the Knife) We all surely remember  

‘Und der Haifisch, der hat Zähne 

Und die trägt er im Gesicht 

Und Macheath, der hat ein Messer 

Doch das Messer sieht man nicht….’ 

But this Mackie Messer is portrayed as a bit of a lad, so there’s more humour than menace. 

These are actors who can sing a bit rather than singers who can act a bit. On the other hand as Macheath says when he picks up the conductors score, tears it up and sets it on fire, “I’m not asking for an opera here!” We should be clear ‘The Threepenny Opera’ is not an opera. Indeed The Scotsman sent both their music and their drama critic to review it. It will be interesting to see what they each have to say. This is a work of musical theatre, not an opera and we shouldn’t judge it as an opera. Just as well as an opera requires first class singing and the truth is the singing on the whole wasn’t first class, but on the other hand the acting was very good and the theatrical presentation, the set, the design, the business, the lighting, and the music of the small group of players who participated in the action were all excellent. Together they created a magical theatrical evening, albeit a little too long in Act 1, though it zipped to its rather unlikely love story ending in Act 2. It is a triumph, a real hit, certainly likely to be the theatrical hit of the Festival and maybe the overall hit in a year when there are no staged operas to challenge it. Ironically ‘The Threepenny Opera’ which isn’t an opera may be the most operatic thing around at the 2023 Festival! 

Barrie Kosky is the enfant terrible of the opera world taking unorthodox approaches to traditional operas. Who can forget his ‘Carmen’ at Covent Garden, where the traditional Spanish scenes were replaced by a set of stairs for all the action and at the end Carmen was shot (not in the libretto!) but instead of lying dead on the stage picked herself up, dusted herself down, looked at the audience as if to say “this is only an opera you know”, and walked off the stage! And who can forget Kosky’s view of Verdi’s Falstaff as celebrity chef prancing around in his chef’s apron and nothing else at the Deutsche Oper? So Brecht’s technique of alienation is very familiar to Barrie Kosky and of course it is applied liberally in his ‘reimagining’ of ‘The Threepenny Opera’. The actors at every turn indicate they know this isn’t an opera but just a play and, hats off to them, they are very good actors and some of them can even sing a bit! Indeed as German cabaret this is excellent. They leap around the scaffolding that is the set and deliver their punchy lines and convince us of the love story that Kosky has reimagined in ‘The Threepenny Opera’. Notable amongst them are Gabriel Schneider as Macheath (or Mackie Messer) in a bravura performance and Cynthia Micas as Polly Peachum. One of the better singers, the very experienced Tilo Nest, is very good as Jonathan Peachum and Pauline Knof equally good as his wife Celia. Other cast members include Kathrin Wehlisch, convincing as the corrupt (male) police chief Tiger Brown, and Amelie Willberg and Bettina Hoppe both amusing and touching as respectively Lucy Brown and Spelunken (low dive)-Jenny, Mackie Messer’s other ‘love’ interests.  The musicians were very good and very much part of the action. The packed audience loved it and gave it loud cheers and a standing ovation and we all went home happy that the Festival has a hit, even if some of us were wondering what Brecht would say!   

Cover photo: Jess Shurte