The Threepenny Opera

"The Threepenny Opera" is a production based on Bertolt Brecht's play with music by Kurt Weill, performed on December 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM on the Main Stage of Narodowego Starego Teatru im. H. Modrzejewskiej at ul. Jagiellońskiej 1. The production is directed by Ersan Mondtag, who also designed the scenography and choreography. The translation was prepared by Bruno Winawer and Barbara Witek-Swinarska, with songs translated by Władysław Broniewski and Witold Wirpsza. Musical direction is by Justyna Skoczek, lighting design by Ada Bystrzycka, and costumes by Josa Marx. Dramaturgy was developed by Thomaspeter Goergen, with artistic collaboration by Alexander Naumann. According to Thomaspeter Goergen, the play owes its worldwide success partly to concealing evil and deep sociopathy beneath shameless humor and sensual music, which is easy to overlook. When theatrical illusion disappears, the characters—murderers, prostitutes, con artists, and rapists—begin to resemble the viewer's reflection in a mirror. The marginal underworld turns out to be society's dark core, where struggles for position occur, scapegoats are sought, and pleasure is derived at others' expense. Goergen also writes about capitalism that has evolved into kleptocracy and then into a war economy. Mackie Messer (Polish: a knife, thus Majcher) transforms in his vision into Mackie MeZer, adorning his tanks with the letter "Z". According to him, Mondtag delves into the nightmare of a world where 97% of goods belong to 3% of society, where ordinary people are exploited, treated as commodities and intimidated, philanthropists prepare bunkers for the apocalypse, and the system like a zombie wants to devour everything. Hope remains that audiences will see themselves as Brecht intended: not as competitors fighting for position or victims of crime, but as human beings helping one another.