Bristol-based Marie Hamilton and Sharp Teeth Theatre will bring their contemporary re-imagining of John Gay’s Polly to London’s Greenwich Theatre on 14 and 15 February 2020.
Inspired by Gay’s controversial sequel to the 18th century poet and dramatist’s most famous work The Beggar’s Opera, Polly (The Heartbreak Opera) re-works the story of Polly Peachum’s search for Macheath for a 21st century audience.
Commenting on the origins of the show which features music by Ben Osborn and is directed by Steph Kemson, writer and producer Hamilton said: “With our composer Ben Osborn based in Berlin we decided to R&D the show there, drawing inspiration from the city that inspired Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. We partnered with the Wardrobe Theatre in Bristol and Theaterhaus, Berlin, and made it in spring 2018.”
Citing Gay as a big influence on her early career in theatre, Hamilton describes her feminist flavoured satire as “ packed full of laughs and is very silly, because my God do we all need a good laugh nowadays and because we want everyone to leave feeling inspired, empowered and having had a really great night out.
“No one wants to go to the theatre and be smacked round the head by Germaine Greer with a Mary Wollstonecraft anthology, but at the same time the satire in Polly does run deep because societally these problems run deep.”
A satirical tale of thieves and highwaymen which took aim at the politically powerful The Beggar’s Opera was first performed on the London stage in 1728. A year later, Gay’s sequel Polly proved to be a satire too far for the censorious Lord Chamberlain who banned any stage performance of the piece. The work was published but Gay would not live to see his show staged in a theatre. Gay died in 1732 and Polly finally received its premiere in 1777 at London’s Haymarket Theatre.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.