The Threepenny Opera

The Threepenny Opera in Kemerovo Regional Drama Theatre.

On January 30th and 31st in Siberia, Kemerovo Regional Drama Theatre has presented a new musical comedy based on Bertold Brecht’s “The Threepenny Opera”.

The play was directed by the artistic director of the Black and White Theatre Festival and Theatre of Black and White, Kamran Shahmardan.

“Our characters are thieves and prostitutes. They steal and sell their bodies to survive. We repeat the idea after the author of this opera: the life breaks people, making them adjust to the conditions defined by strongest. So you cannot expect any good from it (life), no point, it’s not a kind godmother, and it’s not giving you anything. You have to come and take it by yourself. See the problems in your own head and solve them with a sense of humor. “The Threepenny Opera” is a song opera, sung by amateur singers. We have professional actors singing. And they are quite good, in my opinion. All songs are sung live. But the audience should not expect perfect and complex vocal, it’s a cabaret, or more a cabaret theatre. This comedy is a grotesque image of our life, like a reflection in a distorting mirror. If theatre reflects society, then Brecht’s theatre is this distorting mirror. Brecht interests me a lot, I’m going back to his works, for sure! ” – Kamran Shahmardan told us.

This is already the fifth performance of Kuzbass-Finland project. Before this one, there were “Beckett” (Samuel Beckett), “The House of the Dead” (Fyodor Dostoyevsky), “Marriage” (Nikolai Gogol), “Macbeth” (William Shakespeare) and now comes cabaret play “The Threepenny Opera” (Bertold Brecht).