Review: Kerjäläisooppera

A FRESH-LOOKING BEGGAR’S OPERA

The breakthrough work of the German reformer of the performing arts Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956), The Beggar’s Opera (The Threepenny Opera), a satirical treatment of capitalism, was premiered in Berlin in 1928, just over a year before the Wall Street stock market crash. Although the Great Collapse generally undermined people’s trust in capitalism, time has shown that the lack of trust was short-lived.
Today, the joint work by Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, based on John Gay’s ballad opera (The Beggar’s Opera), which dates back two hundred years, is at least as topical as it was 80 years ago. At the Helsinki City Theatre (HKT), Kari Heiskanen directs a fresh and funny interpretation of the Beggar’s Opera, spiced up with tasty alienating effects.
In addition to the play, Brecht’s The Beggar’s Novel (1934) has been used in the adaptation, and some changes and modernizations have also been made to the text.


All
trade


The beggar’s opera is a brutal story of capitalism, when everything – including love and pity – is for sale. Against each other are the robber and murderer Knife-Mackie and the human trafficker Peachum, who has monopolized begging. Both are like mafiosi, in whose arsenal of means blackmail and corruption are commonplace.
So nothing has changed. Even Mac’s last-minute rescue from hanging and being rewarded for all the villain’s work is reminiscent of modern golden handshakes.
Today, the critique of globalisation fits all of this like a nose to the head, and Heiskanen takes his interpretation in that direction. A concrete example is Song of the Instability of Human Conditions, which is performed in the midst of palm trees referring to low-cost production countries and a large wheel that turns the world around.
The shopping carts complete the whole and grotesquely highlight the different aspects of the market economy, while the song ironically states that circumstances hinder man’s pursuit of good and consideration for others.
Despite this, there are certainly more effective ways to make political theatre and to activate people intellectually, which Brecht sought, than Brecht’s plays. The Beggar’s Opera still deserves a new comeback, because according to the Theatre Info Centre’s performance database, the last performances of the Beggar Opera before HKT were seen in 1970 in the Turku and Kemi City Theatres. The peak season for the work was the 1960s.


Emphasized
Theatre

When the text of the Beggar’s Opera still speaks to me, the music still sounds good and Hkt shows confident quality work, the whole is very entertaining theatre.
And emphatically, theatre in particular. The alienation effects launched by Brecht are in frequent use, and the viewer is kept aware at all times that he or she is in the theatre. The stage has been stripped down as if completely without sets. The light ramps are visible, and there are no other things to do. The characters are blatantly masked and costumed, they move, talk and sing in a deliberately pretentious manner like representatives of a certain type of person. They talk more to the audience than to each other, and Heiskanen has also brought in a narrator (Leena Rapola), who at least pulls out of the illusion when she makes contact with the audience.
The performance also features a clip made by means of finger theatre, and one of the funniest alienating insights is an aria by Chief Brown Chief Lucy’s daughter, which parodies ballet and opera mannerisms. This is all the sweeter when the role of Lucy is played by opera singer Laura Pyrrö. The anachronistic rants about shop stewards and the free movement of labour are also spot on.
The cast as a whole does a good job. No one stands out in particular – except for Pyrrö’s singing skills – but everyone takes care of their part in the whole with care.
The main actors – Oskari Katajisto as Knife Mac, Heikki Sankari as Peachhum, Riitta Havukainen as his wife and Vuokko Hovatta as Polly’s daughter, Kari Mattila as Police Chief Brown and Ursula Salo as Tavern Jenny – are an equally strong group in terms of both acting and singing skills.