The Beggar's Opera and Polly (Oxford World's Classics)

These plays offer up a bold mixture of political satire, lyrical poetry, social issues, family values, colonialism, gender roles and racial discrimination; with a number of popular folk tunes and ballads interspersed throughout. It's no wonder that 'The Beggar's Opera' ended up creating its own genre: the comic opera.'The Beggar's Opera' takes place in London's underworld, following thieves and prostitutes, as the local fence and informant Peachum attempts to have his new son-in-law (the highwayman Macheath) hanged. Macheath repeatedly seduces women to help him evade capture and escape, but is constantly betrayed at each turn by his fellow criminals. In the end the Beggar (the playwright) has to be asked to come out and save his hero, so as to give the audience a happy ending.The sequel 'Polly' takes place in the West Indies, as Polly Peachum attempts to find her now transported husband Macheath in the middle of a revolt. This play was in fact banned by the Lord Chamberlain before it was ever performed. It survived in published form and was not performed on the stage until over forty years after Gay's death.While these plays are enjoyable enough to read and study as a text, they were definitely written to be enjoyed as a performance.

Written a long time ago, so the language will, from time to time, seem a little 'off', but it is a trend setter and later became The Threepenny Opera by Brecht

Clear text of a classic, a glimpse into a marker point in English literature and culture

Great purchase

It's not often that you praise a comedy and the first thing that you comment on are the footnotes! But they are not just of scholarly interest, they are essential to full enjoyment of these plays.The violent, immoral Macheath, the (relatively) innocent Polly, her cynical parents, the light-fingered lads, the ladies of the night, the corrupt officials... all the characters are familiar from the Brecht and Weil update, translated into English as "The Threepenny Opera", which itself has been restaged and updated many times. And the interplay is as amusing. Georgian London was every much as corrupt and depraved a city as any of the settings used in the multiple updates.But just to readit as it seems is to miss half the jokes: Gay's drama of the lower classes was an opportunity for him to satirize the politicians and big-wigs of his day. The extensive notes identify who is targeted by which ressemblance, and what had they done to earn it, thus enabling the reader to enjoy the fun, without prior knowledge of the politics of the period.The other thing point is that "The Beggar's Opera" is just that - it is interspersed by songs that comment on the proceedings of the play, set to popular tunes of the day. And, just as in a modern comedy skit, part of the joke involves identifying the original, and viewing the parady in the light of the original. This is where this edition really stands out. An extensive additional section has identified the original songs behind most of the plays, and printed a copy of those lyrics also, for the reader to compare.It is also unusual to see the sequel "Polly" also included. Although both plays superficially have the conventional "happy ending", comparison of the two shows that Gay does not believe in anything so trite - he is as cynical about love as any of his characters.Add a good introduction, setting the works in the context of Gay's life, and this really is an edition that enables a comic writer of 200 years ago to still entertain and provoke an audience today.

Gay's friend Alexander Pope confided in Jonathan Swift, "It will make a great noise, but whether of Claps or Hisses I know not."Claps won - and do even now, getting on for three hundred years later. Welcome here the chance to discover the reasons for that instant success with its unpredictable audacious combination of styles, sparkling dialogue interwoven with lyrics set to popular tunes of the time.This presentation is most scholarly, crammed with notes about the background to both "The Beggar's Opera" and its sequel "Polly". (The latter was banned on stage, which of course created much interest and made it a best seller when printed.) References that may puzzle are explained in detail and much research has been done into the tunes used.Serious students are thus very well served. I confess myself not one of them, simply reading to enjoy - which I did. Low-life rogues are here in abundance, all intent on self-advancement, treachery no problem if the price is right. Charismatic highwayman Macheath has many women after his favours, he more than happy to oblige. He lives on his wits, cheating a speciality - his main ambition to cheat the rope. Polly Peacham is his main love, she ever a delight. In the West Indies follow-up she appears in man's garb, Macheath as a black pirate king (both unaware of the other's identity). Will their love triumph? One thing for sure, its course will not be smooth.The two pieces are an excuse for Gay to take swipes on high - he adept at inserting the sword, then giving it a twist. The foibles depicted here are evident in all levels of society, especially the nearer one reaches the top. As Polly's duplicitous father freely admits (amongst much else), "Like Great Statesmen, we encourage those who betray their Friends."Great fun. No hisses from me.