Based on John Gay's eighteenth century Beggar's Opera, The Threepenny Opera, fir
st staged in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, is a vicious sati
re on the bourgeois capitalist society of the Weimar Republic, but set in a mock
-Victorian Soho. It focuses on the feud between Macheaf - an amoral criminal - a
nd his father in law, a racketeer who controls and exploits London's beggars and
is intent on having Macheaf hanged. Despite the resistance by Macheaf's friend
the Chief of Police, Macheaf is eventually condemned to hang until in a comic re
versal the queen pardons him and grants him a title and land.
With Kurt Weill
's unforgettable music - one of the earliest and most successful attempts to int
roduce jazz to the theatre - it became a popular hit throughout the western worl
d. Published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series in a trusted translation
by Ralph Manheim and John Willett, this edition features extensive notes and com
mentary including an introduction to the play, Brecht's own notes on the play, a
full appendix of textual variants, a note by composer Kurt Weill, a transcript
of a discussion about the play between Brecht and a theatre director, plus edito
rial notes on the genesis of the play.
