Peter Rowe, artistic director of Ipswich’s New Wolsey Theatre, and Graeae Theatre Company’s Jenny Sealey have joined forces on an “anarchic” version of Weill and Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, which has just opened at Nottingham Playhouse.
Adapted from John Gay’s The Beggars Opera, the musical is said to have been “reinvented for our times”.
Says Rowe, “I wanted to do a version of The Threepenny Opera where we create a company of contemporary ‘beggars’ to tell the tale from their perspective—a parable about the corruption of the world, told by those excluded from it.”
The cast comprises Milton Lopes (Macheath), Cici Howells (Polly), Garry Robson (JJ Peachum), Victoria Oruwari (Mrs Peachum), Natasha Lewis (Lucy), Amelia Cavallo (Jenny), Will Kenning (Tiger Brown), Sophie Byrne (Dolly), Barbara Hockaday (Betty), Joe Vetch (Bob), Ben Goffee (Jake), Stacey Ghent (Nellie), Stephen Collins (Ned), Sonia Allori (Maisie), Max Runham (Filch), T J Holmes (Smith), John Kelly (narrator) and Joey Hickman (Rev Kimball).
Designer is Neil Murray, musical director and arranger Robert Hyman, movement director Mark Smith, projections designer Mark Haig, lighting designer Malcom Rippeth, sound designer Drew Baumohl and performance MD Joey Hickman.
All performances include audio description and a creative combination of BSL interpretation and captioning.
The Threepenny Opera is a Nottingham Playhouse, Graeae Theatre Company, Birmingham REP, New Wolsey Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse presentation.
It is said to be suitable for those aged 14 and over and runs at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday 8 March.