John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera took London’s theatre scene by storm in 1728, not only for employing popular songs and ballads (rather than the in-vogue Italian-style arias) but for its setting among London’s lowlife criminal fraternity - not a heroic emperor or Greek mythical figure in sight. It was also openly satirical of the upper class and the Establishment.
Justin Way’s new production drags the opera into present-day Soho, where the Peachums run an off-licence and the tavern that Macheath repairs to becomes a brothel. The updating allows for some eye-catching designs (Kimm Kovac and Andrew Hays), with chiller cabinets transforming into whore-house display booths, and the set features ornate theatre balconies, from where the chorus monitors the action. Another contemporary twist sees Suzy Tawdry, one of the hookers, decked up in Uma Thurman’s yellow jumpsuit from Kill Bill. Mostly the updating is at least colourful and immediate, though it can seem out of kilter with Gay’s libretto: ‘Truly Filch, thy observation is right,’ declares Peachum, while the Beggar (here ostensibly an usher, who, by the way, maintains a nervous and needless presence throughout much of the production) pays for her booze by credit card.
The cast, though, is beyond reproach. Jeremy White sings, acts and delivers his dialogue as Peachum with equal naturalness, Leah-Marian Jones struts her stuff uninhibitedly as Polly and Sarah Fox as Macheath’s other lovestruck devotee, Lucy Lockit, sings affectingly, not least in her If Love’s a Sweet Passion. But Tom Randle truly anchors the cast. He gives Macheath a somehow likeable sheen, impressing as much with his vocal and acting talents and, before the philanderer’s sudden reprieve at the opera’s end, elicits genuine pity as a condemned man.
Production information can change over the run of the show.
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