The Threepenny Opera was a play I knew nothing about, so I went unsure of what to expect. I’m glad I did as an evening of melodramatic burlesque unfolded, and any preconceptions would have simply confused matters. The ubiquitous queuing in the drizzle and realisation the the Drama barn is fundamentally a fridge was quickly forgotten once the opening number started. The music was fantastic, accomplished by a small band under the guidance of Oran Doyle. All the musical numbers were performed vigorously by both band and singers.
Brecht’s play is a tricky one, with its lightening fast changes between tragedy and comedy.
The play tells the story of Polly Peachum’s marriage to the notorious criminal Macheath, and her family’s attempt to bring about his downfall, set against the background of Queen Victoria’s coronation. Despite this simple premise the script provides challenges in the staging and direction. The stage layout attempted make sense of this, and involve Brecht’s alienation theory, by creating a stage within a stage. However, this wasn’t utilised as well as it could have been, as when “off-stage” some actors stayed in character, and some didn’t. This inconsistency could have been clarified by more careful direction.
Andy Bewley is an astounding Macheath. He is at his best when making comic asides and interacting with the audience, which produced a myriad of nervous laughter from the audience member chosen as his victim. He was slightly less consistent in the tragic moments and when he was required to be truly villainous. This is applicable to the whole production, the comedy provided moments of brilliance but it felt unsure when trying to provoke pathos. This division meant that the first half was the stronger part.
Providing the main comic action was Richard Spears as Peachum, who runs a protection racket for the beggars of London. He reveled in this role, filling it with small gestures which reinforce his character and heightened the comic absurdity of his pseudo-morality. His scenes with Tiger Brown (Tom Lock) were some of the best, with Lock acting the corrupt police commissioner in a perfectly attuned camp manner. Some of the other characters could have been formed with more depth which would have made the plot clearer, but as an ensemble the cast were fantastic, with only a few actors who felt at odd with the rest of the cast’s wonderfully melodramatic style.
The choreography was well done and never lacked conviction in performance. Macheath’s three heavies Glen Collier, Matthew Lecznar and Leigh Douglas were particularly good in their supporting roles. Lottie Johnson and Yoshika Colwell displayed stunning singing voices. Despite the individually strong performances I was never sure with whom our sympathies are supposed to lie. While this is partly Brecht’s intention in the script, some more careful direction could have guaranteed that this felt purposeful rather than accidental.
The performance was carried out with burlesque relish and aplomb, and the audience were carried through any weaker moments by the cast’s sheer force of conviction. A Threepenny Opera well worth the £5 ticket.