The Three Penny Opera, a tale of gangsters, molls and London low-life opened at the Doha Players’ theatre on Wednesday, unfortunately to a very small audience, according to Gulf Times.
Despite its name, the show is a witty musical comedy where hopeless crooks and hapless policemen are led a merry dance by Mac “The Knife” Macheath (Lloyd Tynchyshyn). Written a century ago by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, the story is a social satire which re-evaluates humanity in a time when everyone seemed to be on the make.
The show opened with an excellent performance of the song “Mack the Knife” and then we meet the Peachums (Nick Blessley and Irene Alberts) who run an outfitters’ shop and discover their daughter Polly (Skyla Rabadi) is missing. She turns up in a local stable with her new husband, Mac the Knife, and an assortment of furniture which has been “borrowed” from various houses by Mac’s gang (Nick Cowan, Hani Dweik and Tim Heap).
When Peachum finds out that Polly has married London’s most powerful criminal he is furious and vows revenge. Which is somewhat hypocritical as Peachum, known as the “Beggar King”, provides outfits and locations to beggars for ten shillings down and half the take!
Mac is completely unfazed by this as he’s been paying kickbacks to the local Sheriff (Chris Evans) for years. But eventually one of Mac’s lady friends, Low Dive Jenny (Lisa Purkiss) accepts a bribe and turns him in. Under sentence of death, Mac escapes but is recaptured and, just as the hanging hour approaches, he is pardoned by the king.
The show is directed by Gerard Kennedy, who once again uses a minimalist set, which gave the feel of an old-time music hall. He has also made clever use of projected images, both to announce the songs and to add to the messages they contain – Albawaba.com
