‘L’Opera de Quat’Sous’ (original German ‘Die Dreigroschenoper’; in English ‘The Threepenny Opera’), first produced in August 1928, was adapted from a translation of John Gay’s eighteenth-century English ballad opera, ‘The Beggar’s Opera’. 

Although Brecht wrote the text prior to the political plays influenced by his reading of Marx, his interpretation was intended as a socialist critique of capitalist society. However, this approach was totally lost in this production, staged by Thomas Ostermeier and performed by members of the Comédie-Française, where French slapstick often took over. In theory, the ideas of a communist utopia, which swept across Europe at the time, should have been ideally set in the underworld of 1920s London; but the production was too slick, and sometimes too silly, to put across any political message.

Birane Ba as Macheath

Nevertheless, it was not an unenjoyable evening as it was saved by the quality of the musicians and much of the singing. The production’s shortcomings were unfortunately down to Ostermeier’s staging.