OR

Threepenny Opera

Fri 18 to Sun 20 Aug 2023
Prices:

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
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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

Tickets from £21, available via Edinburgh International Festival

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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