24-27 February 2011
Lyric Theatre, HKAPA

Brecht's own theatre company performs his greatest classic

"I was aroused straightaway by the raw intensity of the songs" Bob Dylan

"The finest, most felicitous and fresh production of this classic given anywhere" Welt am Sonntag

Direction/Stage/Lighting Concept: Robert Wilson
Costumes: Jacques Reynaud

England's most wanted criminal Mack the Knife is back. Visionary director Robert Wilson takes on Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill's groundbreaking musical hit The Threepenny Opera creating a 21st century theatrical sensation.

With an immaculate production, the Berliner Ensemble – the legendary company set up by Brecht and his wife Helene Weigel - who are again performing the biting social satire to rapturous full houses in festivals and theatres across Europe. They will play in Hong Kong for four nights only.

Premiered in Berlin in 1928, The Threepenny Opera took the world by storm and by the time of the Second World War, there were already more than 130 productions internationally. The opening song Mack the Knife (Moritat) became one of the 20th century's most popular anthems, a Grammy award winning version by Bobby Darin reaching the number one spot in the Billboard Hot 100.

A colourful cast of underworld characters come to life under Wilson's signature use of light and space. Defined by bright colours, bold geometrics and stylised images, the low life of seedy Soho jostle to memorable operatic, cabaret and jazz tunes along the backstreets, where corruption flourishes and betrayals abound.

Robert Wilson
The New York Times described Robert Wilson as "a towering figure in the world of experimental theater...an explorer in the uses of time and space on stage. Transcending theatrical convention, he draws in other performance and graphic arts, which coalesce into an integrated tapestry of images and sounds." Notable works include Einstein on the Beach, The Black Rider and Woyzeck.

Berliner Ensemble
Bertolt Brecht founded the Berliner Ensemble in 1949 with his wife Helene Weigel. Since 1954, it has been based at the Theater am Schiffbauerdamm in East Berlin where The Threepenny Opera was first staged. A prolific writer, director and theorist, Brecht's alienation effect revolutionised acting and the way plays are staged and perceived. The Ensemble under its current Artistic Director Claus Peyman is still regarded as the authoritative interpreter of Brecht's works.

Performed in German with English and Chinese surtitles

Bertolt Brecht/Kurt Weill
THE THREEPENNY OPERA
A play with Music in a Prologue and Eight Scenes
by Bertolt Brecht
after John Gays The Beggar's Opera
German translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann
Music by Kurt Weill