Beggar's Opera
2015
Unproduced
Unproduced
The Beggar’s Opera brings the conventions of opera into a world of petty criminals and popular music.
My interpretation of it also brings down the conventional architecture of opera, giving the impression
that we are watching from the trap room of a once-grand opera house. The walls, “stage” floor, and
false proscenium are all racked backwards and
in forced perspective to accent this rat’s-eye view. The scenes are changed primarily by hauling out the ragged drop and eventually revealing the substructure of the stage, which stands in for Newgate Prison.