The airiness of the sets, mostly arrangements of glowing neon tubes, makes the audience focus on the characters, who delivered their lines and songs with snap and savagery. This underlines Brecht's premise: These underworld kings mirror their social superiors-and are guided by the same faulty moral compass. Peachum, played by the grimacing Jürgen Holtz in a black velvet suit and skullcap, exudes solidity, wealth and ruthlessness.
Macheath's shock of blond hair and the corset he wears under his sparkly suit give him a hint of androgyny as well as danger. Peachum's hiccups, Polly's wide eyes and nervous giggle. They are exaggerated but not cartoonish, and have distinctive physical traits: the gangly Tiger Brown's trembling hands, Mrs. Wilson put all the characters in whiteface makeup with raccoon eyes and black costumes (by Jacques Reynaud), creating the look of silent movies from the 1920s. The rich, he notes, have no difficulty causing misery, but can't bear to see it. But Peachum knows the power of appearances and threatens to deploy his beggars to disrupt Queen Victoria's coronation if Macheath is not arrested and hanged. Macheath has a fatal predilection for women, and sets off the battle when he "marries" Peachum's daughter, Polly he has the police chief, Tiger Brown, his old army buddy, on his side. This "opera for beggars," based on John Gay's 1728 work, depicts a struggle between two kings of the underclass, Jonathan Peachum, who controls London's beggars, and Macheath, leader of a gang of thieves and murderers.
0 kommentar(er)
