Synopses & Reviews
This Student Edition of Brecht's satire on the capitalist society of the Weimar Republic features an extensive introduction and commentary that includes a plot summary, discussion of the context, themes, characters, style and language as well as questions for further study and notes on words and phrases in the text. It is the perfect edition for students of theatre and literature.
Based on John Gay's eighteenth century Beggar's Opera, The Threepenny Opera, first staged in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, is a vicious satire 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 - and 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 reversal 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 introduce jazz to the theatre - it became a popular hit throughout the western world.
The text is presented in the trusted translation by Ralph Manheim and John Willett.
Review
"An excellent resource...Willett and Manheim have become the unchallenged mediators of Brecht for the English-speaking audience."—Marc Silberman, Editor, Brecht Yearbook “At last—the definitive translations of one of the 20th centurys most influential playwrights…Far superior to the competition.”—Theatre Journal
Synopsis
Based on John Gay's eighteenth century
Beggar's Opera,
The Threepenny Opera, first staged in 1928 at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in Berlin, is a vicious satire on the bourgeois capitalist society of the Weimar Republic, but set in a mock-Victorian Soho. With Kurt Weill's unforgettable music - one of the earliest and most successful attempts to introduce jazz to the theatre - it became a popular hit throughout the western world.
Published in Methuen Drama's Modern Classics series, this edition features extensive notes and commentary 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 editorial notes on the genesis of the play.
About the Author
A major dramatist of the twentieth century, Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
was the founder of one of the most influential theatre companies, the
Berliner Ensemble, and the creator of some of the landmark plays of the
twentieth century: The Threepenny Opera, Life of Galileo, Mother Courage and Her Children and The Caucasian Chalk Circle. His plays and dramatic theory are central to the study of modern theatre.