The Threepenny Opera

Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) is acknowledged as one of the great dramatists whose plays, work with the Berliner Ensemble and writing have had a considerable influence on the theatre. John Willett (1917-2002) was the greatest English-language authority on Brecht. The foremost translator and editor of Brecht's drama, poetry, letters, diaries, theatrical essays and fiction, Willett produced a dozen volumes for Methuen Drama on the greatest modern German writer. Ralph Manheim (1907-1992) was an American translator of German and French literature. In collaboration with John Willett, Manheim translated the works of Bertolt Brecht. The Pen/Ralph Manheim Medal for Translation, inaugurated in his name, is a major lifetime achievement award in the field of translation. He himself won its predecessor, the PEN translation prize, in 1964. Anja Hartl is Assistant Professor at the Department of Literature, Art and Media Studies at the University of Konstanz, Germany. She has published essays on contemporary British theatre, Brecht and Shakespearean adaptation. Her research focuses on political theatre, adaptation studies, Shakespeare and Victorian fiction. She is the author of Brecht and Post-1990s British Drama in the Methuen Drama Engage series.

Chronology

Contexts
- Historical, social and cultural
- Political and social climate of the 1920s
- Cultural context: the Roaring '20s
- Significance of the play for Brecht and for political theatre
- 18th century context
- 20th century context
- Britain vs. Germany; London/East London

Genres
- Opera/music/theatre – a new theatrical genre
- Adaptation – John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera
- Hybridity: low- and highbrow, emphasis on fun, entertainment in Brechtian theatre
- Satire

Themes
- Who is who? Bourgeois and/or beggar?
- Role of the institutions (police, royal family, state)
- Corruption, money
- Exploitation, human trade, poverty
- Morality, asocial vs. social
- Love and sexuality, prostitution
- Resistance and change
- Which opportunities for change are envisioned by the play?

Characters
Male characters
- Peachum empire
- Macheath
- Tigerbrown
Female characters and sexual politics of the play
- Mrs Peachum
- Polly
- Jenny

Play as performance
- Brechtian principles of theatre-making
> emphasis on dialectical theatre
> theatricality
> actor-audience relationship
> deus-ex-machina ending
- Music
> Kurt Weill’s composition
> Brechtian opera
> The significance of the songs

Academic debate
- Central strands in scholarship (comparative readings, focus on music and operatic genre)

Production history
- German productions (Berliner Ensemble; new production announced for January 2021)
- English productions
- International success (and problems which ensued: misinterpretation, commercialisation, etc.)
- Der Dreigroschenprozess (The Threepenny Trial by Bertolt Brecht)
- Simon Stephens’s recent new version at the National Theatre, UK
- Joachim Lang’s film Mackie Messer – Brechts Dreigroschenfilm

Behind the scenes
Interview with playwright Simon Stephens

Further reading and viewing

THE THREEPENNY OPERA

Additional texts

Notes