The Threepenny Opera

Small-scale crook wedding! In a horse stable in Soho, borough of London, bandit Macheath, called Mackie Messer, marries Polly Peachum, daughter of the controller of all beggars in London. Not only Macheath’s accomplices attend the wedding, but also police chief Tiger Brown, who has been a close friend of Mackie since their army days. Neither Brown, nor Polly could have guessed, that Brown’s daughter Lucy also succumbed to Mackie’s seductive charms!

Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum, Polly’s dad, successful operator of the company “Beggar's Friend,” also has a say in the secretly concluded marriage. Not only does he seek the quickest possible divorce for the newlyweds, but he also wants to see Macheath hanged for his misdeeds. His wife Celia sets a trap for Mackie Messer: she bribes the “whores of Soho,” who promptly hand Mac over to the police when he visits them every Thursday, despite all warnings. While Macheath is in the dungeon of Old Bailey plotting to escape execution, Police Chief Brown has other concerns: the Queen of England's coronation procession is coming up—the last thing he needs is a looming uprising of the hungry and poor on the streets of London.

In 1928, the premiere of The Threepenny Opera struck a chord in the Weimar Republic with its unsparing analysis of the political situation. Together with composer Kurt Weill, Brecht created an opera about “beggars, thieves, and whores”—who, unlike the bourgeoisie, cannot afford to be moral.