Drama

Theatre The Threepenny Opera Playwright: Bertolt Brecht Composer: Kurt Weill In a new adaptation by Simon Stephens Director: Rufus Norris Olivier, National Theatre, London SE1 (020-7452 3000) Until 1 October Running time: 3hrs (including interval) Rufus Norris has had a choppy start as boss of the National Theatre, said Claire Allfree in The Daily Telegraph. He needs a “copper-bottomed hit” to silence the doubters. Alas, I doubt The Threepenny Opera is it. Admittedly, this “bleak” reimagining of the Brecht/Weill classic about East End lowlifes (itself a satirical update of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera, from 1728) is at times “very good indeed”. The evening “soars” during the musical numbers, performed by an onstage band dressed like “ghoulish apparitions from a Weimar cabaret”. And there are some cracking performances: Sharon Small is wonderful as opium-addicted “ruined…