The Beggar's Opera

Drama Classics: The World's Great Plays at a Great Little Price

John Gay's bawdy and burlesque pastiche of classical Italian opera, often regarded as the world's first ever musical.

Peachum the thief-catcher is horrified when he discovers his beloved daughter Polly has married Macheath the highwayman; he and his wife plot Macheath's death in the knowledge that they would be entitled to their daughter's inheritance once he was out of the way. But Lockit the prison warden is also after the highwayman's treasures, and daughter Lucy his crown jewels...

The Beggar's Opera was premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, London, in January 1728.

This edition of The Beggar's Opera is edited and introduced by Colin Counsell