Threepenney Opera

With typical modesty Claire Fenton, Head of Drama and director of the 2020 Senior Production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Theepenny Opera, states in her programme notes that ‘I am not a huge fan of musicals.’ Well it certainly did not show.  

Typically outdoing herself again, which was never an easy task considering last year’s The Rest Is Silence her radical and immersive take on Hamlet, The Threepenny Opera was a pulsating and playful reworking of the 1920s classic. 

Brecht’s play, derived from John Gay’s 18th Century Ballad Opera, deliberately makes use of popular music, lower status characters, colloquial dialogue and a highly melodramatic plot – all stuff for the cast and crew to get their teeth into. Setting it in Victorian England brings out a strong Dickensian flavour, and recasting the central character Macheath as a gangster undoubtedly evokes elements of Peaky Blinders, albeit with a more Cockney sound. Songs such as Mack the Knife, which opens the production, also adds Jazz into the mix.  

Ms Fenton clearly relishes making the most of what Brecht called Epic Theatre. Using a large cast, having the audience surround the actors at the edge of the theatre and having the actors, especially Sam Fineman’s exuberant Peachum, interact with the audience to create a sense of immediacy and complete involvement.  

All the actors, from TWGGS as well as Skinners’ were completely at ease with this very broad, exclamatory acting style, and to start naming names of terrific performances would be almost endless. But, special mention does need to be made to Billy Marsden as Macheath. Musical theatre seems to come as easy as breathing to him; he’s so comfortable on stage and his deep enjoyment in performance is infectious. 

The sense of atmosphere throughout the performance is completely absorbing, and this is made possible by the coherence of all the elements that theatre offers. The costumes created the dinginess and corruption of their world beautifully. The sets and lighting were used with superb dexterity to move us around the city. Being a musical you’d expect catchy and dramatic tunes but it is impossible to do justice to the impact and energy that Simon Hendry’s music brings to the drama. The orchestration and singing were a delight throughout.  

As I’ve come to expect from Skinners’ productions, I left with the thought, what will they do next year to top this? 

Peter Ubly