THE smash Everyman & Playhouse hit co-production with Kneehigh, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs), makes triumphant homecoming at the Everyman
The spectacular and irreverent Dead Dog in a Suitcase (& other love songs), which lit up the Everyman stage in the opening season last year, is returning home from a successful national tour from Tuesday 10 to Saturday 14 November. Following the story of contract killer Macheath, the punk-folk extravaganza almost blew the roof off the new Everyman last year and now it’s back for a limited run on Hope Street.
Written by Carl Grose, with an original 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 bursting with wit, wonder and weirdness, delivered in the way only Kneehigh know how.
The play is loosely based on The Beggar’s Opera, which 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.
The company of Kneehigh actor musicians bring Carl’s script and Charles’ music and songs to life. Several of the original cast members return, including Dominic Marsh as loveable antihero Macheath, Martin Hyder as corrupt business mogul Peachum, Rina Fatania as his flamboyant, scheming wife, and Giles King as shifty cop Lockit.
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.”
Kneehigh have enjoyed huge critical success this year with a UK and international tour of Tristan & Yseult, and a tour of the US and Australia with their much loved stage version of Brief Encounter. Anarchic, funny, radical and rude, Dead Dog in a Suitcase (& other love songs) reflects the true spirit of this award winning Cornish company.
Availability is limited but ten tickets will go on sale for £10 each at the Everyman box office on each day of the run, from 10am. So don’t miss your chance to see this extraordinary ensemble company shoot, hoot and shimmy their way through a twisted morality tale for our times.
