The Beggar's Opera: Reborn by Becky Unthank
writes:
Me and Rachel have been having a wonderful time recently partly because we've been involved in an ongoing project called '' with Charles Hazlewood.Ìý Charles' enthusiasm and energy is quite astounding and it really rubs off; we too have fallen in love with these sometimes beautiful and sometimes hilarious songs from The Beggar's Opera. 1728 folk opera was a satire against the class system, corruption and the musical establishment. The great British folk tunes he employed have largely disappeared from our culture, and along with Adrian Utley () and a few others we've been exploring how to reinvent them.
Me and Rachel have been having a wonderful time recently partly because we've been involved in an ongoing project called '' with Charles Hazlewood.Ìý Charles' enthusiasm and energy is quite astounding and it really rubs off; we too have fallen in love with these sometimes beautiful and sometimes hilarious songs from The Beggar's Opera. 1728 folk opera was a satire against the class system, corruption and the musical establishment. The great British folk tunes he employed have largely disappeared from our culture, and along with Adrian Utley () and a few others we've been exploring how to reinvent them.
Well actually, what we've been doing is having a brilliant time and thinking 'is this really our job?' We practically moved in with Charles for a week in Somerset where we spent many hours in the barn exploring ideas, eating some of the best homemade soup and bread ever (made by Charles' wife Henri) and playing with their wonderful kids and dogs.
We did a concert at the Roundhouse in Camden to show people our working progress of the songs. It's an unusual thing to be part of as we literally had four days to bash ideas around, then presented an hour and a half of music, some of which I think has potential to work really well and some of which I'm not so sure about, but that was the point. As Charles puts it he wanted to present the songs as if they were 'still wet clay'. There were also some Baroque musicians and a singer who performed some of the songs as they probably would have sounded in their original form, which was really interesting for us as it's a completely different world of singing and playing. You should have heard the singer warm up, it was fascinating!
Me and Rachel approached the songs as we would any other, looking to engage with the story and the character. Rachel takes the role of Polly Peachum and I, Lucy Lockit. We are both married to the same scoundrel Macheath, who has, so far for us, been played by and Tim Dickinson. Although we may not be certain of what form all the songs will take yet, I think Charles has captured our imaginations and we will carry on exploring.
The evening before the gig, we were free, so being alone and at a loose end, me, Rach and Adi (McNally) went to seek out what the local pub had to offer. As it turns out it couldn't have been more brilliant. As we walked in, it took us a minute or two to take in what was happening - we had walked right into a ceremony. We could not believe our luck! I mean, we've been singing the songs every year since we could open our mouths and sing but here we'd walked right into the middle of one. They put hot pokers in the cider, toast on the tree and the Wassail pot was passed round. If we weren't folkies and familiar with this sort of thing we might have thought the locals were a bit loony. The fact that the landlord and lady didn't know any traditional Wassail songs hadn't deterred them. They had made up their own to the tune of a song and everyone seemed to have a great time. Locals were getting up to do a turn on the piano and we couldn't resist joining in. Luckily Rachel had her in the car so with the help of some mulled cider courage we broke our usually very strict no singing after a drink rule and did a turn.
We did a concert at the Roundhouse in Camden to show people our working progress of the songs. It's an unusual thing to be part of as we literally had four days to bash ideas around, then presented an hour and a half of music, some of which I think has potential to work really well and some of which I'm not so sure about, but that was the point. As Charles puts it he wanted to present the songs as if they were 'still wet clay'. There were also some Baroque musicians and a singer who performed some of the songs as they probably would have sounded in their original form, which was really interesting for us as it's a completely different world of singing and playing. You should have heard the singer warm up, it was fascinating!
Me and Rachel approached the songs as we would any other, looking to engage with the story and the character. Rachel takes the role of Polly Peachum and I, Lucy Lockit. We are both married to the same scoundrel Macheath, who has, so far for us, been played by and Tim Dickinson. Although we may not be certain of what form all the songs will take yet, I think Charles has captured our imaginations and we will carry on exploring.
The evening before the gig, we were free, so being alone and at a loose end, me, Rach and Adi (McNally) went to seek out what the local pub had to offer. As it turns out it couldn't have been more brilliant. As we walked in, it took us a minute or two to take in what was happening - we had walked right into a ceremony. We could not believe our luck! I mean, we've been singing the songs every year since we could open our mouths and sing but here we'd walked right into the middle of one. They put hot pokers in the cider, toast on the tree and the Wassail pot was passed round. If we weren't folkies and familiar with this sort of thing we might have thought the locals were a bit loony. The fact that the landlord and lady didn't know any traditional Wassail songs hadn't deterred them. They had made up their own to the tune of a song and everyone seemed to have a great time. Locals were getting up to do a turn on the piano and we couldn't resist joining in. Luckily Rachel had her in the car so with the help of some mulled cider courage we broke our usually very strict no singing after a drink rule and did a turn.
Comment number 1.
At 22nd Mar 2010, Murray wrote:I was at the Roundhouse and it was a brilliant evening. As you say there was a sense of work in progress, but that did not detract in any way from the enjoyment. You were all clearly having fun, and the interaction between the musical styles was fresh and exciting. As someone who loves 18th century and earlier music, as well as folk, it was a great event. I hope that you will be recording it in due course. Thanks, Becky, and all the rest of the gang.
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