This autumn Kneehigh arrive at West Yorkshire Playhouse to open their critically acclaimed, radical new reworking of the Beggar’s Opera, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (& other love songs). Written by Carl Grose, with a brand new score of live music written by Charles Hazelwood, and directed by Joint Artistic Director Mike Shepherd, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (& other love songs) is a twisted morality tale for our times busting with wit, wonder and weirdness, delivered in the way only Kneehigh know how.
The original Beggar’s Opera was written in 1728 by John Gay and was adapted by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in 1928 as The Threepenny Opera. Like its predecessors, Kneehigh’s new version is a musical satire that holds a mirror to contemporary society- confronting big business, corrupt institutions, and urban myths.
Writer Carl Grose said: “The story of the dead dog in the suitcase is a “genuine” story. Google it. It’s urban myth. It’s modern folklore. And that feels like what our Beggar’s Opera is, too. If John Gay’s was highwaymen, prostitutes and street thieves, ours is about the mythic underbelly of NOW – corporate conspiracy, hit men, warped Robin Hood-types, the end of civilisation, dead dogs in suitcases – all combined to create a portrait of a world hanging by a thread, in turns shocking, hilarious, heartfelt and absurd.”
Dead Dog in a Suitcase (& other love songs) is at West Yorkshire Playhouse from Tuesday 3rd November to Saturday 7th November 2015. To book tickets call the Box office 0113 213 7700 or buy online at wyp.org.uk.
