The Threepenny Opera at Nationaltheater Mannheim

Bertolt Brecht's Dreigroschenoper is the world's most popular German play of the twentieth century. After its premiere in Berlin in 1928, the war-tossed population already whistled the melodies of Kurt Weill, the Ballad of Mack the Knife or the song of Pirate Jenny on the streets. Mackie's parting words also became very famous:
"What is a robbery in a bank compared with founding a bank?" The Dreigroschenoper succeeded in portraying the global social and economic decay processes of the twentieth century in a sardonic but also entertaining way.

The two criminals, Peachum and Mackie Messer, operate their business like sophisticated entrepreneurs. Peachum sends his army of beggars to the streets and exploits them afterwards. As Mackie blows with his daughter, Peachum reports him to the police. But Mackie can escape thanks to his charm with women. He is the new man, he moves within the world of economic and moral decay, where everyone betrays everyone, like a fish in water. The crisis is his real home.

In Argentina, where the crises are part of daily operations ever since and the crash of the national currency in 2002 anticipated the current global crisis, the director Alejandro Tantanian has always experienced Brecht's play as a fable in its own Argentine life. After his Amerika production in the last season, he will now attempt a global approach on Brecht with the ensemble of the National Theatre against the background of our 21st Century crises.