The Threepenny Opera

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("The threepenny opera") is a German political musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

The original text

Written in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher, the play was adapted from John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera[], The Beggar's Opera, as a Socialist critique of the capitalist world. It opened on 31 August 1928 at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into English and a number of other languages, the play has seen performances across the globe since its first performance.

In its English translation, The Threepenny Opera the play has become one of the best known of Brecht's works. The translation is sometimes referred to as The Thrupenny Opera and has also been called The Tupenny-Ha'penny Opera (e.g. by the BBC) or even The Ha'penny Opera (see Jody Abrahams for instance).

Performance history in South Africa

The musical has often been done in South Africa.

1938: Done in English at the Pioneer Theatre, Johannesburg, directed and designed by Leo Kerz.

1958: Presented by Taubie Kushlick [7.11.1958].

1981: A Troupe Theatre Company production was presented at the Grahamstown Festival in July and at the Market Theatre in August. In the cast were Hilary Jones, Bill Curry, Fiona Ramsay, Fred Abrahamse, Roz Monat, Sean Taylor, Chris Galloway, Neil McCarthy and Penny Lorimer.

1987: An English translation (by Ralph Mannheim and John Willett) was performed in South Africa in September 1987. This was a student production.The director was Malcolm Purkey, designed by Paul Roumanoff and musical direction by Richard and Susan Cock. Lighting by Paul Abrams. Choreography: Esther Nasser. Cast included Kellam Beard, Richard Harrison, Megan Wilson, Daniella Roman, Zane Meas, Sarah Leftwich, Lisa Melman, Natalie Coyle, Gerard Bester, Brigid Schutz, Dominique Pascale, Chantal Nativel, Craig Freimond, Gladwin Marumo, Mandy Crock, Beverley Crook, Mickey Dube, Michelle Baker, Dorothy Brislin, Rosie Fiore, Mich'ele Levin, Heidi Britten, Michelle Kramer, Isabel Smook, Jennifer Yuill, Christine Comino, Lara Foot, Edward Jordan, Janice Kramer, Teresa Lintvelt, Beverley Shor, Kate Alexander, Bronwyn Keene-Young, Victor Maloka, Tale Motsepe and Gert Pretorius. The orchestra included Richard Cock, Susan Cock, Charles Wiffen, Caroline Hobbs, Liza Crouch, Alan Thompson, Gaby Gunders, Dain Peters, Reinet Nortj'e and Robert Evans. Stage director: Siphiwe Khumalo. Stage Manager: Gillian Glauber.

Translations and adaptations

Translated into Afrikaans as Drie-Pennie-Opera by Arnold Blumer en Hennie Aucamp.

Sources

A political musical by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.

Done in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher, the musical was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Socialist critique of the capitalist world. It opened on 31 August 1928 at Berlin's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.

Usually translated as The Threepenny Opera, though the BBC apparently insisted on translating it as The Tuppenny-Ha'penny Opera (to emphasise the satire).

Sources

Kurt Weill: The Threepenny Opera (ed Stephen Hinton) CUP Archive, 1990[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Threepenny_Opera

Photograph held by NELM (Troupe Theatre Company production): [Collection: MARKET THEATRE]: 2004. 30. 5. 154.

Programme of play done in 1987 at Wits Theatre, The School of Dramatic Art.

Colin Naylor, 1990. Contemporary designers, p. 294.

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