This brilliant musical satire delivers a forceful and hefty theatrical punch… One of the best ensembles I have seen for some time.”– North West End

Mayor Goodman has been assassinated. Contract killer Macheath has just married Pretty Polly Peachum and Mr and Mrs Peachum aren’t happy. Not one bit. Wild and anarchic and often very funny… The cast works as a perfect ensemble. It’s all very entertaining… Very much of and for our time. ”– British Theatre Guide Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and Other Love Songs) is, as the title suggests, a musical, and the music regularly interspersed throughout the narrative is fitting and borrows from a range of genres; the songs serve to further the narrative and add something to the audience’s understanding of the characters. The music, composed by Charles Hazlewood, is performed live on stage and creates a music concert feel to the piece and allows for a repartee between the band and the actors; indeed some of the band take on roles as part of Mac’s gang and the actors themselves all play an instrument to contribute to the soundscape. In the same spirit of immersion, the set designed by Michael Vale is a fantastic and intricate scaffolding that the actors climb up and down and repurpose to suit the needs of the scene, all done underneath an ever present noose that hangs as a warning and reminder of our characters’ inevitable fate. A compelling piece of theatre… One of the most joyful experiences you’ll have in a theatre this year.”– Haus of Phag

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Ultimately, with all urban legends of this ilk, they endure for decades because awful things happen in big cities. Everyone’s paranoid, no-one trusts strangers; someone stealing a dead dog isn’t even the most horrible story I’ve heard this year, let alone in 12 years living in London. We are in the Age of the Profoundly Stupid and I long, with all my heart and soul, for change and a new age of enlightenment where we can all be global citizens.

Second Floor and You the Living, Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief his Wife and her Lover, Breaking Bad, the Marx Brothers and Jan Švankmajer. I stumbled across a Punch and Judy show and thought that Mr Punch (the Lord of Misrule and anarchy personified) was like Macheath. Finally, director Mike Shepherd highlights a parallel between the story of our antihero Macheath and that of Mr Punch (of Punch and Judy fame) through the use of puppetry, expertly led by Sarah Wright at this performance as chief puppeteer. From Punch, to dogs and crying babies, the puppets serve to remind the audience how ridiculous and pantomimic the actions of the real world characters can seem at times, forcing us to question who the real heroes and villains are in our society.

STAGE TALK

When Carl announced the title was to be ‘Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs)’ there were raised eyebrows and pleas for us to change it to something more “accessible” but we held out. It seemed an important statement of intent that he wasn’t simply adapting John Gay’s original but radically re-writing it. Having been fired up we now wanted to leap far away from the comfort zone. As Carl wrote at the time: “….the story of a dead dog in a suitcase is a famous urban myth (google it) It’s a modern folklore and that feels like what our Beggar’s Opera is too. If John Gay’s was highwaymen, prostitutes and street thieves then ours is about the mythic underbelly of NOW-corporate conspiracy, hit men, weirdowarped Robin Hood types, the end of civilisation, dead dogs in suitcases…I mean what the HELL is the world coming to?” One day, she came to the apartment and found the dog lying dead in the middle of the living room. When she knelt down and examined the dog, she found a big bone lodged in his throat. He must have choked to death on the food she left during the night. Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7. When it was first suggested that Kneehigh might be interested in The Beggar’s Opera I wasn’t keen. The plot seemed thin; I didn’t really know who Macheath was or what he did; the women were either wives, daughters or prostitutes, the men thieves and rogues and the ending felt lame.

Fabulously crazy characters, great dialogue, delightful set design, flashes of genius in the stage craft… Be prepared to be blown away.”– The Good Review

An investigation has been launched after children found a dead dog stuffed in a suitcase in Airdrie. Inspector for the charity, Robyn Myszor, said: “The dog was a white and tan male entire Staffordshire bull terrier cross. Read More Related Articles