BERTOLT BRECHT / KURT WEILL: »DIE DREIGROSCHENOPER«

»Ja, mach nur einen Plan« (Go ahead, make a plan), Peachum sings in »Das Lied von der Unzulänglichkeit menschlichen Strebens« (The Song of the Futility of Human Striving), for his plans certainly aren’t working out. He is crossed by Macheath, a man even more radical in pursuing his goals, even snapping his daughter Polly from out under his nose by simply marrying her on the spot. Even almost 100 years since the world premiere of the »Three-Penny Opera« in 1928, the punchlines and songs by Brecht and Weill still hit the mark. Together, they had transformed the English »Beggar’s Opera« by John Gay of 1728 into a piece about life under modern capitalism, landing a world hit. The version presented by Dresden’s Staatsschauspiel transposes the action to today’s Germany. Macheath dreams of taking power and leading a revolt, while his opponent, no less brutal and power-obsessed, prefers using legal means to grab the reins of society.

Bertolt Brecht / Kurt Weill »Die Dreigroschenoper« (with collaboration by Elisabeth Hauptmann, in an adaptation by the Staatsschauspiel Dresden featuring additional texts by Lothar Kittstein)