Company: Hull Truck Youth Theatre
Venue: Hull Truck Theatre
Director: Catherine MacPherson
Costume Designer: John Boddy
Dates: January - March 2002

The Threepenny Opera is set in mock Victorian London, loosely based on John Gay's The Beggars Opera. The use of jazz-style songs, which comment on the action and themes of the play, creates a distancing effect for the audience, which I heightened by incorporating a curved raised stage complete with footlights. To accommodate the comparatively large cast (26) I extended the performing space into the vom and up through the audience, creating a cinematic feel. To change scenes quickly and to deal with the difficult references to furniture, men on horseback, etc. in the script, I used a shadow wall in which the scenic needs and sometimes the actors are silhouetted.