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¶ … mercy of social forces: Beggar's Opera sadly reminds us!
Why has the Beggar's Opera remained popular with theatergoers for so long? Fair enough question for something that's been around for the past 275 years. A considerable life for any play that depicted the society of when it was originally performed.
Written by John Gay, and first performed on 29th January 1728, The Beggar's Opera as it was mockingly named, is anything but an opera for it lacks the antiquity, seriousness and most importantly the Italian touch to qualify to be an opera. What it is, is a humorous musical which involves the character periodically busting into song, with the audience finding it hard to restraint their laughter as the play takes as many opportunities to attack the classical opera setting.
The three act play which is a constant battle of wits starts with the Beggar (representing the author, and the Player warning the audience that what they are about to see is anything but the conventional opera, a warning which remains true to the end. What follows is a funny politically incorrect drama that criticizes the governance and high society of the era.
The satirical play encapsulates the moral values and ethics of the politicians and noblemen and tears apart all that they hold dear unfolding with...
The plot set in 18th century London immediately resonates with present day audiences, even now in the present day world where corruption fueled by greed the play bears meaning making fun and taking every chance to slander the very fabric of society that most of us are made to respect keeps viewers entertained.
With over 60 songs with lyrics that could easily be mixed with a little beat and pass of as a hit rap number with verses like "But he so teased me, and so pleased me..." Has something in common with even today's public. The characters consisting of criminals portray the upper class as felons claiming right to rule with laws that protected the rich and banished the poor to a life of permanent poverty in a society that used illiteracy as a tool. Within the story line the cunning and street-smart vagabonds are made to look like heroes, which is typical even today.
The primary reason why people still enjoy the play is the sad but obvious similarities that were all so obvious in Gay's world to the present day world, which makes one reflect if it was Gay who was far ahead of his time in pointing out a society which fed on the misery of others or is it the fact that nothing much as really change.…
John Gay uses the hilarious parallel of Peachum, a 'fence' or disposer of stolen goods; Lockit, the chief Jailer and a collection of thieves and prostitutes, to make fun of a society set up by the greedy, the corrupt and the powerful. Only the poor man may believe in his own virtue, but if he doesn't have the cash to buy justice he must suffer for his crimes.
Love and sex are heavily ridiculed through out the play. Those of us who shake our heads in bewilderment at the adulterous ways of present day politicians and the aristocrats will find much to identify in this opera. The hilarious results of the Highwayman MacHeath's inability to restrict himself to one woman at a time are immediately familiar to the modern viewers. Marriage is seen as a hindrance, husbands and wives are there for convenience and comfortable living and once they have out lived their use are done away with. Money is the standard for measuring love. Sex in The Beggar's Opera is merely a business.
The Beggar's opera in the end delivers only this message. That man is not basically unscrupulous, but rather he is a victim of sadistic social forces and has only learned to be evil so as to conform to the social order to survive, and only the poor are made to suffer for their inadequacies. As the Beggar, the author of the piece states at the end of the opera that he would have shown that the poorer people have their vices to a degree as well as the rich; but they alone are punished for them. Alas, nothing seems to have changed since 1928.
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