Edinburgh International Festival
Evenings 5pm & 7.30pm
Running time: Approx 3 hours
Content: Contains depictions of violence and use of haze.
Performed in German with English supertitles
Edinburgh International Festival
The Threepenny Opera
Berliner Ensemble/ Barrie Kosky
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weil in collaboration with Elisabeth Hauptmann
UK Premiere
Following its premiere in Berlin in 1928, The Threepenny Opera was an overnight phenomenon. Written by Bertolt Brecht and Elisabeth Hauptmann with music by Kurt Weill, it was a game-changer for the genre of music theatre.
The Berliner Ensemble, founded by Brecht himself, is joined by Barrie Kosky for this production, which opens with the iconic song ‘Die Moritat von Mackie Messer’, now better known as the jazz standard ‘Mack the Knife’. Kosky, the former Artistic Director of Komische Oper Berlin, returns to the Festival following his acclaimed production of Eugene Onegin in 2019.
The story follows notorious criminal Mack the Knife, who has recently married Polly Peachum. Her father is determined to have Mack the Knife hanged. Based on John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, this satire of capitalist society is a story about love, betrayal and morality.
A freshly presented story focused on that most fundamental of human dramas: love
The New York Times
Dates
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Credits
Barrie Kosky Director
Adam Benzwi Musical Director
Rebecca Ringst Stage Designer
Dinah Ehm Costume Designer
Ulrich Eh Lighting Designer
Holger Schwark Sound Designer
Sibylle Baschung Dramaturg
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