by Archie Whyld

What do German theatre directors eat in the morning? Why, Brechtfast, of course. Early on in Polly (The Heartbreak Opera), a similar, and admittedly better, Brechtfast joke was subtly slipped in, in a moment of metatheatrical gorgeousness, and so, being a lover of all things Brecht, I thought – this is for me.

A collaboration between Marie Hamilton and Sharp Teeth Theatre, Polly (The Heartbreak Opera), directed by Stephanie Kempson, updates John Gay’s 18th Century Polly, the sequel to his The Beggars Opera, relocating Polly Peachum to the Caribbean where Macheath is now a pirate. Following the tragic heroine, Polly Peachum, in search of her beloved Macheath, we begin at a doomed wedding, end up on ship and then in the Caribbean. The comedic parodying is interspersed with songs which take us on, at times, unexpected journeys, not least with a hauntingly dark and beautiful number about how love causes such terrible pain.

I’m more familiar with Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera, his reimagining of The Beggar’s Opera – or perhaps we should say Elisabeth Hauptman’s Threepenny Opera, as she translated the original and suggested it to Brecht, who then went on to claim that he himself had translated it. And so the female reclamation of this text makes perfect sense, with its fierce and hilarious take down of men in power, colonial wrongs and men like Macheath with small penis syndrome, but judging by the huge phallus packed into his cycling shorts, he needn’t worry.

Marie Hamilton, who so brilliantly played Captain Macheath with both huge phallus and a real 8-month pregnant belly, was such a complex parody I thought my male brain might evaporate. Theatre is at its best when it’s difficult to compute and there’s just so much going on: layers, contradictions and paradoxes that you’re just left thinking, ‘I believe this moment to be very, very good’. This was such a moment.

The tracksuited, Boris-upped parodies were beautifully supported and contrasted by Madeleine Shann’s The Poet – a narrator, an Emcee of sorts – whose sardonic, understated commentary belied a seething rage, which we felt in its full force with the final song, “The Solidarity Song”.

Polly (The Heartbreak Opera) tours through 16 May.

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