THE BEGGAR’S OPERA
But Gay’s sinister entertainment succeeds because it cunningly dramatizes the great double standard: the world rewards the rich for committing the very crimes it penalizes the poor for. Or as Gay’s “most excellent moral” puts it: “The lower sort of people have their vices in a degree as well as the rich–and are punished for them.”
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The first entry in the third International Theatre Festival of Chicago, this Court Theatre revival is an unsparing Hogarth caricature. Richard Russell Ramos’s staging captures all but the smell of the 18th century, while Anita Ruth’s supple musical direction nicely suggests the country origins of the ballads Gay immortalized. Lit pitilessly then subtly by Rita Pietraszek, Jeff Bauer’s sprawling courtyard setting combines with his period-perfect costumes to create stage pictures you want to photograph.
