Die Dreigroschenoper is a musical theater spectacle that challenges the audience to look critically at society and morality. Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht wrote this work, brimming with social criticism, in 1928 as a modernized version of John Gay’s 1728 The Beggar’s Opera. Nearly a hundred years later, this world of betrayal, corruption and bribery is still sharp and recognizable.

Set in a London slum, the story concerns the devious gangster Macheath (Mackie Messer), who marries Polly Peachum, the daughter of the beggar king. The latter, however, tries to get Macheath sentenced to death to maintain his power. The play begins with the world-famous Die Moritat von Mackie Messer and ends with an unexpected denouement.

In his music, Kurt Weill forged together classical, cabaret, jazz and chanson in a fascinating and – as it turned out later – timeless way. Opera Zuid has chosen Servé Hermans, the artistic director of Toneelgroep Maastricht, to direct the play. Actor Maarten Heijmans plays the fearsome and seductive Mackie Messer. Sung in German, with Dutch dialogues and with Dutch and English surtitles.