The Threepenny Opera - Directed by Michael Kantor

RESEARCH BACKGROUND: The Threepenny Opera was a stage production that premiered at the CUB Malthouse Theatre, Melbourne, in 2010 originally conceived by the CUB Malthouse Theatre in conjunction with Opera Victoria. Its inclusion into the Sydney Theatre Company programming was instigated by the Art gallery of NSW in conjunction with the exhibition, The Mad Square - Modernity in German Art, 1910-1937. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: Brecht's The Threepenny Opera is an adaption of John Gray's 18th Century ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera. The play as a whole addresses the staging of social and class divides. Corrigan's contribution was to translate the difficult modernist language of the early 20th century avant-garde via his extensive set design, and reimagine it in contemporary Melbourne. Leading theatre critic Alison Croggan (Theatre Notes 14 June 2010) described Corrigan's sets as 'an organically disturbing mess of architecture' that acted as a 'simulacra of urban dissonance'. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The value of the project is evidenced through the review of the initial 2010 stage production in newspaper review (The Age, The Australian, The Sunday Age), and online resources (Stagewhispers). The Sydney production was reviewed in the Sydney Morning Herald (J Blake, 'Seductive Brecht takes the smooth with the rough', 5 Sept 2011). The play was seen by some 18,766 persons over 27 performances (STC 2011 Annual Report) increasing an international and inter-state awareness of innovative and celebratory theatre originally conceived in Melbourne.