The Beggar's Opera / Polly

by John Gay, Hal Gladfelder (Editor)

‘Gamesters and Highwaymen are generally very good to their Whores, but they are very Devils to their Wives.’

With The Beggar's Opera, John Gay created one of the most enduringly popular works in English theatre history, and invented a new dramatic form, the ballad opera. Gay's daring mixture of caustic political satire, well-loved popular tunes, and a story of crime and betrayal set in the urban underworld of prostitutes and thieves was an overnight sensation. And its sequel, Polly, banned in Gay's lifetime, boasted a cross-dressing heroine and a cast of female adventurers, pirates, Indian princes, rebel slaves, and rapacious landowners--a culture in which all human relationships are reduced to commercial transactions.

Genres: Plays, Classics, British Literature, Fiction, Drama, 18th Century

207 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1728

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

John Gay was an English poet and dramatist. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera (1728), set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peachum, became household names.

Reviews

[Warwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Gay's The Beggar's Opera was the most monstrous theatrical success of the eighteenth century. It was staged at John Rich's Theatre Royal, and – as one newspaper put it – ‘has made Rich very Gay, and probably will make Gay very Rich’. So many people swarmed into the theatre to see at that at one performance, there were ninety-eight of them sitting on the actual stage.

It's a clever satire that explicitly equates thieves and whores with great statesmen, complete with several more-or-less veiled references to contemporary politicians; all of this is interspersed with witty songs sung to familiar tunes, inaugurating a new form of theatre that came to be called ‘ballad opera’ – essentially the precursor of the musical.

It did indeed make Gay's fortune, and also transformed the lives of many other people associated with it. Lavinia Fenton, who played the heroine Polly Peachum, went from being a struggling girl-of-the-town to being the mistress of the Duke of Bolton, who had attended night after night of performances to stare at her. He ended up buying the theatre box he'd sat in, and installing it in his local church to serve as the family pew (I wonder how his wife took that)! In the end she bore him three sons and, after his wife eventually died, married him to become the Duchess of Bolton. Pretty good going.

The sequel, Polly, was never performed in Gay's lifetime. The Lord Chamberlain pulled it from rehearsal, probably because of irritation about digs at the First Minister and others. It's a strange piece, which shifts the action from Newgate prison to the plantations of the West Indies, and involves cross-dressing and blackface, with the satire now hinging on the equation of ‘civilised’ Londoners with ‘savage’ natives. It is less successful for modern readers than The Beggar's Opera, but both plays still have a few solid laughs and are full of interest if you're into the period.

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good as hell. Came at this one sideways, through a combination of the Threepenny Opera by way of the World/Inferno Friendship Society and Marcus Rediker’s Villains of All Nations. Both plays are valuable in their own right, and the various performances of the airs from The Beggars Opera available to listen to along with the readings are absolutely enriching. However, even without the benefit of the accompaniment, I find Polly to be the better of the two, taking the contradictions central to the former and building from them some truly marvelous exchanges.

[Dylan Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the greatest works of English satire "The Beggars Opera" this volume includes the unfortunately seldom performed sequel "Polly" which up the target from merely to international issue where statesmen, outlaws, colonialists and pirates are impossible to tell apart .

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly funny and enjoyable. Read for my 18th century module at uni and was pleasantly surprised.

[Jacob · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not convinced this works brilliantly on the page - not convinced that Polly works very well otherwise. Nice when your lecturer is the editor though.

[Salsabeel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic.

[Sophia Jaffe · Rating 3 out of 5]

fine. very silly ha ha funny another one i had to read for school

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will confess, after Captain Singleton I was skeptical about the other books in my Pirate Literature class.

But this was actually great? It was scathing and high-key hilarious, excellent political commentary and satire. I enjoyed both The Beggar's Opera and Polly, through I think I preferred Polly overall.

It took a minute to get into it and to understand the operas sense of humour, but once I did I very much enjoyed it.

SECOND READ-THROUGH, like, a few weeks later:
First read through was focused mostly on social criticism by criticising the government. Second read through focused more on gender reversal and queer themes. Also another excellent read.

[sophie · Rating 2 out of 5]

i dont think a single page would pass the bechdel test

[Cameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

These plays offer up a bold mixture of political satire, lyrical poetry, social issues, family values, colonialism, gender roles and racial discrimination; with a number of popular folk tunes and ballads interspersed throughout. It's no wonder that The Beggar's Opera ended up creating its own genre: the comic opera.

The Beggar's Opera takes place in London's underworld, following thieves and prostitutes, as the local fence and informant Peachum attempts to have his new son-in-law (the highwayman Macheath) hanged. Macheath repeatedly seduces women to help him evade capture and escape, but is constantly betrayed at each turn by his fellow criminals. In the end the Beggar (the playwright) has to be asked to come out and save his hero, so as to give the audience a happy ending.

The sequel Polly takes place in the West Indies, as Polly Peachum attempts to find her now transported husband Macheath in the middle of a revolt. This play was in fact banned by the Lord Chamberlain before it was ever performed. It survived in published form and was not performed on the stage until over forty years after Gay's death.

While these plays are enjoyable enough to read and study as a text, they were definitely written to be enjoyed as a performance.

[Sade · Rating 3 out of 5]

I only had to read The Beggar's Opera but just from reading and undergoing critical reading for a few of the Airs I would say the satire in this is almost hysterical. There is so much shade being thrown by this old white guy about this one politician - the first Prime minister - and he has no fucks to give. Funny at times, more than once I had to go and research some of the references which is to be expected considering this was written in 18th cen. but overall not bad lol.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I found it interesting I don't think that this play was really to my taste. Once I have begun studying this, my view my change as I think I will become more intrigued in the nature of the operatic theme behind the play itself.

[Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly interesting play, but difficult to assess without seeing it on stage. The notes and introduction were very useful.

[Lulu]

Beggar 1728 polly 1729