FREE THEATRE CHRISTCHURCH
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • A brief history...
    • Who We Are
    • The University Connection
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
  • WHATS ON
    • The Passionate Puritan
  • EDUCATION
    • Kids Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • PRODUCTIONS 1979 - present
    • The Cat Eleonore
    • The Deadbeat Opera
    • Babylon Berlin
    • Beggars Banquet
    • Woyzeck
    • The Axe
    • Endgame
    • Digitising Performance
    • Erewhon: Over the Range
    • A Summer Night's Dream
    • How Dare You
    • A Winter's Tale
    • Ars Acustica
    • Alice
    • The Black Rider
    • Frankenstein
    • The Mauricio Kagel Project
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • Kafka's Amerika
    • Ubu Nights >
      • Past Ubu Nights >
        • Ma Ubu Night
        • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
        • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
        • Frankenstein Ubu Night
        • Casablanca Ubu Night
        • Faust Ubu Night
        • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
        • Punk Ubu Night
        • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
        • Crossroads Ubu Night
        • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
        • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
        • Bowie Ubu Night
        • Warhol Ubu Night
        • Berlin Kabarette
        • Beat Ubu Night
        • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
        • David Lynch Ubu Night
        • Kafka Ubu Night
        • Tango Ubu Night
        • Ubu Ubu Night
        • Lovecraft Ubu Night
    • Canterbury Tales
    • The Soldier's Tale
    • Bluebeard's Castle >
      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
    • I Sing the Body Electric
    • Big Heads Protest
    • Hereafter
    • Passion, Pulse and Power
    • The Earthquake in Chile
    • Don Giovanni Invites you to Dinner
    • Doctor Faustus
    • The Marvellous Corricks >
      • Corricks - Credits
    • Distraction Camp
    • Remake
    • Ella and Susn
    • There and Back Again
    • Faust Chroma
    • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
    • Change Proposal
    • Faust Feast
    • Diana Down Under
    • Philoctetes >
      • Production Credits - Piloctetes
    • Fantasia
    • Christmas Shopping
    • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
    • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
    • Caucasian Chalk Circle
    • Samson Airline
    • Antigone
    • Kabarett Kabul
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • The Well Intentioned Wife
    • The Last Days of Mankind
    • Bakkhai / Diotek
    • Krapp's Last Tape
    • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
    • Comrade Savage
    • Love on a Bicycle
    • Crusoe: A Lapsarian Mass in Twelve Movements
    • Medea
    • Songs to the Judges
    • Resolution Island
    • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
    • The Empire Builders
    • States of Shock
    • Robinson Crusoe or: I That Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
    • Power
    • MedeaMaterial
    • Salome
    • Electra
    • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
    • Hamletmachine
    • Oresteia
    • A Respectable Wedding
    • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
    • Cloudkiwiland
    • Double Act / Postponeless >
      • double act credits
    • Preversions
    • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
    • Red Cross & Takeaway
    • Lulu
    • Cowboy Mouth
    • The Meeting >
      • the meeting credits
    • Action / Tongues
    • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
    • A Letter from L
    • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
    • Free Theatre Christmas Show
    • The Ride Across Lake Constance
    • Electra
    • In Three Minds
    • The Rapist Over Suzannah
    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
    • Leonce and Lena
    • Court Case: Free Theatre vs The Arts Centre
    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
    • King Ubu
    • Black Cat Cabaret
    • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
    • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
    • Round Dance
    • Woyzeck
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT

The Deadbeat Opera

There are some who are in darkness / And the others are in light / And you see the ones in brightness / Those in darkness drop from sight.
- Mack the Knife
6-21 September, 2024, The Pumphouse
production credits
Ladies and gentlemen, we’re rolling up to the Pump House with another miserable tale! 
 
Following on from the success of Woyzeck we present to you a low-life, low-budget opera performed by a highly talented cast of losers and deadbeats. 
 
The Deadbeat Opera is Free Theatre’s adaptation of John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera (1728) a revolutionary and then immensely popular ‘anti-opera’ and forerunner to the modern-day musical where criminal gang leaders and prostitutes sung well known songs (by Johann Pepusch) and folk ballads about corruption, poverty and injustice; and Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera (1928) an adaptation 200 years later of Gay’s work with new music in the form of cabaret songs composed by Kurt Weill. 

​In Brecht’s adaptation he reverses the moral positions of the bankers and police with that of the beggars and thieves: 
“Who is the greater criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one?” He also wanted to show that high moral standards are only possible when one can afford them: “Food is the first thing, morals follow on”. 
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The Deadbeat Opera juxtaposes our current period of the 2020s with the historical periods of Gay and Brecht – the early days of the industrial revolution during the 1720s and the Great Depression during the 1920s. 
Hester Ullyart performs the role of gang leader Macheath and is joined by a mix of experienced local performers - Aaron Boyce, Heather McFarlane, Sarah Clare Judd, Greta Bond, Chris Carrow and Marian McCurdy; and our gang of musicians - Reuben Derrick, Sam White, Chris Reddington and Doug Brush. 
 
Directed by Peter Falkenberg with design by Stuart Lloyd-Harris, the heritage Pump House once again provides the perfect setting. Enjoy a beverage before the show and during the interval at our ‘Beggars and Bankers Pumphouse Bar’ where you’re guaranteed to get what you paid for.
 
We are performing The Deadbeat Opera in honour of our collaborator, sister and friend Samantha Boyce-Da Cruz who worked with us to develop the project last year. Sam passed away unexpectedly in February. She is very much with us in all of our thoughts and we dedicate this opera to her. ​
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Great show! ​
​- Delaney Davidson
Amazing show! Loved everything about it 
​- ms.green.goddess
This show is strange and epic ♥️
​- Yvonne Dyson
Please, please go see 'The Deadbeat Opera'. It was the most raw, beautiful, passionate, live theatre I've seen in a long time!
- Jenna Howell
The show was amazing . Really loved it. So creative and thought provoking and just really transports the mind and mood to a different place 
​- Yani Johanson
What a superb performance ! You guys all done well 
​- Dave Mitchell
We enjoyed it immensely! 
​- Carol King
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i’m still on a high from last night! loooooooved it!!!! 🫶🫶🫶 
​- Violet French
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Great work @freetheatrechch. Loving the twisted musicals 
​- Danny Lee Syme
If you're looking for raucous chaos art, this is for you x
- Gra Ce
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A night at the theatre in a common pump house tonight. Free Theatre on form with its madly brilliant The Deadbeat Opera: a blending of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera and Bertold Brecht's The Threepenny Opera with modern additions. Hester Ullyart as MacHeath was notable for me, her character slick with nonchalant cruelty. But everyone on stage was notable especially with stage manager, musicians and crew all getting stage time. And that Stage - part of a more expansive set, and about 3m sq - part of the Stuart Lloyd-Harris/Chris Reddington set coĺlaboration... I marvelled at the exquisite choreography between scenes that regrouped furnishings in the limited space. All the actors have fabulous singing voices which served to heighten the mocking of mainstream opera. The top song for me had to be Sarah Clare Judd's 'Pirate Jenny,' an unfamiliar version of a Steeleye Span favourite, 'The Black Freighter.' And yes, since one of my all time adored buildings is the Kew pumping station by the Thames in London (with its 90 inch Cornish beam engine) I'd get married in a pump house! 
​- 
Jeneane Hobby
The whole thing was so well done by all. A really dramatic presentation! Congratulations!
​- Bob Webster
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​Loved the show last night - the costumes, the energy, the theatricality, and the amazing voices! Fantastic!!
​- Annie Horgan

Media

Interview for Toi Ōtautahi with Zara Potts and Producer Marian McCurdy Read here: ​here

'A healing process' - new production honours drama teacher
Victoria Meakin, The Press, 2 September 2024

Free the theatre!
Hannah Harte, Avenues Magazine, Issue 232, Dec-Jan 2024-25
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Reviews

...an electric performance by recent NASDA grad Judd. As Polly, she delivers barnstorming, girlish, somewhat feral renditions of two of the best songs.... It’s a stylish production with a clear sense of carnival atmosphere, as well as excellent musical direction and performances from the band.... I’m pleased that people are into it – there really is a lot to admire and enjoy – although given the original works’ acerbic political ambitions and sense of anticapitalist class consciousness, I’m not sure if that response, or my desire for great cohesion and a stronger point of view, is the more bourgeois.

The Deadbeat Opera – a low-life comedy about crime, grime, and uncertain politics.
Erin Harrington, Flat City Field Notes, September 7 2024
Poor theatre at its best...

Uniformly excellent performances deliver high-impact experience
​Lindsay Clark, Theatreview, September 9 2024​
Stepping into The Pump House in Phillipstown for The Deadbeat Opera felt like entering a time warp into the Industrial Revolution.... From scoundrels to misfits, every performer embraced their oddities, creating a richly textured world full of eccentric personalities. Together, they brought to life a true cabinet of wonders, where the absurd was celebrated.... This production thrives on its weirdness and creativity, making it a must-see for anyone who enjoys immersive, unconventional theatre. Peter Faulkenberg’s direction embraces the unusual, and the eccentric cast delivers a performance fit for any house of curiosities.

Belinda Cullen-Reid takes a weird trip into the sewage system of  opera and comes out smelling of roses - or is that gin? 
​Belinda Cullen-Reid, Backstage Christchurch, September 10 2024.
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I've enjoyed the Free Theatre's performances for over 40yrs. They are always fantastic & this venue is amazing 
​- Victoria Adams
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I thoroughly enjoyed my cultural experience last nite. So wonderful to see a group of dedicated performers giving their all. I love seeing the creativity that turns a large brick industrial room into a dynamic stage 
​- Doug Woods



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  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Manifestos and Writings
    • A brief history...
    • Who We Are
    • The University Connection
    • Shirley Horrocks documentary
    • Training and Devising
    • Home, Space and Design
  • WHATS ON
    • The Passionate Puritan
  • EDUCATION
    • Kids Holiday Programmes
    • Schools Workshops
    • Adult workshops
  • PRODUCTIONS 1979 - present
    • The Cat Eleonore
    • The Deadbeat Opera
    • Babylon Berlin
    • Beggars Banquet
    • Woyzeck
    • The Axe
    • Endgame
    • Digitising Performance
    • Erewhon: Over the Range
    • A Summer Night's Dream
    • How Dare You
    • A Winter's Tale
    • Ars Acustica
    • Alice
    • The Black Rider
    • Frankenstein
    • The Mauricio Kagel Project
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • Kafka's Amerika
    • Ubu Nights >
      • Past Ubu Nights >
        • Ma Ubu Night
        • Ubu Through the Looking Glass
        • Ubu in Wonderland Ubu Night
        • Frankenstein Ubu Night
        • Casablanca Ubu Night
        • Faust Ubu Night
        • Not Hamlet Ubu Night
        • Punk Ubu Night
        • The Art of the Deal Ubu Night
        • Crossroads Ubu Night
        • Ubu Shows Us the Way to Brecht's Whiskey Bar
        • The Devil and the Blues Ubu Night
        • Bowie Ubu Night
        • Warhol Ubu Night
        • Berlin Kabarette
        • Beat Ubu Night
        • Twin Peaks Ubu Night
        • David Lynch Ubu Night
        • Kafka Ubu Night
        • Tango Ubu Night
        • Ubu Ubu Night
        • Lovecraft Ubu Night
    • Canterbury Tales
    • The Soldier's Tale
    • Bluebeard's Castle >
      • Bluebeard's Castle credits
    • I Sing the Body Electric
    • Big Heads Protest
    • Hereafter
    • Passion, Pulse and Power
    • The Earthquake in Chile
    • Don Giovanni Invites you to Dinner
    • Doctor Faustus
    • The Marvellous Corricks >
      • Corricks - Credits
    • Distraction Camp
    • Remake
    • Ella and Susn
    • There and Back Again
    • Faust Chroma
    • Enigma Emmy Goering/Nico Sphinx of Ice
    • Change Proposal
    • Faust Feast
    • Diana Down Under
    • Philoctetes >
      • Production Credits - Piloctetes
    • Fantasia
    • Christmas Shopping
    • Grimm's Sleeping Beauty
    • Achternbusch in the Antipodes
    • Caucasian Chalk Circle
    • Samson Airline
    • Antigone
    • Kabarett Kabul
    • Footprints/Tapuwae
    • The Well Intentioned Wife
    • The Last Days of Mankind
    • Bakkhai / Diotek
    • Krapp's Last Tape
    • Murderer Hope of Women / The Philosopher's Stone
    • Comrade Savage
    • Love on a Bicycle
    • Crusoe: A Lapsarian Mass in Twelve Movements
    • Medea
    • Songs to the Judges
    • Resolution Island
    • Oedipus Rex/Oedipus at Colonus
    • The Empire Builders
    • States of Shock
    • Robinson Crusoe or: I That Was Born To Be My Own Destroyer
    • Power
    • MedeaMaterial
    • Salome
    • Electra
    • The Girl Who Sings Waterfalls
    • Hamletmachine
    • Oresteia
    • A Respectable Wedding
    • Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant
    • Cloudkiwiland
    • Double Act / Postponeless >
      • double act credits
    • Preversions
    • The Mortal Pleasure of Wander Lust
    • Red Cross & Takeaway
    • Lulu
    • Cowboy Mouth
    • The Meeting >
      • the meeting credits
    • Action / Tongues
    • The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
    • A Letter from L
    • Dinosaurs and All the Rubbish / The Hunting of the Snark
    • Free Theatre Christmas Show
    • The Ride Across Lake Constance
    • Electra
    • In Three Minds
    • The Rapist Over Suzannah
    • 1984: The Future Is Now
    • Make-up Ground down / Texts for Decomposition
    • Leonce and Lena
    • Court Case: Free Theatre vs The Arts Centre
    • The Almost Free Theatre Kabernette
    • The Joffongract
    • King Lear
    • Kabarett
    • King Ubu
    • Black Cat Cabaret
    • The Gas Heart/Ox on the Roof/The Mirror Wardrobe One Fine Evening
    • Jazz Cellar Dada / Heavy Metal Cabaret
    • Round Dance
    • Woyzeck
  • Te Puna Toi
    • Past Te Puna Toi Projects
    • Artists in Residence
  • SUPPORT
  • CONTACT