The Beggar's Opera			Download the programme.
Beggars - polished production
The choice of an 18th century play with music and songs demands more than many amateur dramatic groups could comfortably tackle - but considering that the actors in question were Grasmere Players and the play in question was The Beggar's Opera, a roistering comic romp, it is hard to see how this excellent combination would fail.
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		Nobody expected high opera - this was, after all, John Gay's celebration of lowlife London, a parody of stylised Italianate opera that respectable people paid to see. The 'pop' opera was packed with popular songs of the day, sung with laudable verve by the Grasmere cast, who are primarily actors performing songs rather than singers. Despite this, they acquitted themselves musically with honour, accompanied sensitively on the piano by Kate Morpeth.
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Gay's larger-than-life characterisations of those whose lives of dastardly crime and easy virtue kept the hangman and the whorehouses busy are a gift to theatre and especially Grasmere Players who strutted their stuff with gusto under the experienced direction of Hugh Wright. Narrated by the Beggar (Denis Bland), double standards are exercised at every level - including the bands of thieves who betray each other and share the spoils - all supported by the wages of sin and a brisk business in the buying and selling of reprieves from the hangman.
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		The villainous relationship between Tony Kent, as Mr Peachum, a double dealing thieving lawyer, and Bob Wilkinson as the bribe-hungry jailer, Lockit, provide the plot round which the tale is constructed. Both have beautiful and sluttish daughters - Polly Peachum and Lucy Lockit, portrayed captivatingly by Lakes School pupils Rosie Thomas and Sophie Nelson. The two have been promised the hand of dissolute womanising highwayman Macheath, captain of the robber band, played wickedly by Danny Blenkharn.
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Edmund Blood's clever adaptation avoided the temptation to stray into contemporary satire; the original said it all adequately. The ingenuity and timing of the 'dropped-down' flown scenery and the painted cyclorama slides were an entertainment in itself. This was a play for all ages, with a cast that spanned three generations - a truly united and polished production.
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JR The Westmorland Gazette, February 22nd 2002.